JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, has won a competitive pitch to work with I heart Wines on their 2024 TV ad campaign.
The wine with a big heart has chosen the production company that connects brands to people to reach and resonate with their loyal customers and new converts alike.
The campaign will align with a brand refresh that comes 13 years after launch.
“The win is a fantastic opportunity to work with an exciting brand that’s bubbling with personality, sass, confidence and authenticity.”
“When we were invited to pitch we knew we had to go for it. We’re incredibly proud that the pitch was led by our 26-year-old in-house creative and director Abbie Howes. She completely embodied the brief and their audience.”
“Our concepts hit all the right notes and we’re delighted to have been chosen to work directly with Freixenet Copestick”.
Emma Fogerty, Senior Brand Manager at Freixenet Copestick said “we are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have chosen JonesMilbank to be our creative partner in producing our new TV ad. We’re excited to embark on this journey together to bring our ideas to life and see the creative vision take shape.”
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JonesMillbank are a full-service video production company.
They work in-house with a talented team of multi-disciplined creatives, telling authentic stories for a range of clients such as Delivery Hero, IDLES, SOHO Coffee Co and University of Bristol.
jonesmillbank.com | 01173706372 | [email protected]
In the realm of links, it’s important to recognize that not all links are of equal value. The quality of a link, as perceived by Google and the end user, depends on various factors.
We have covered links in a lot of detail in the past including how to measure the value of a backlink to your site and how to get links in the first place, this week we look at anchor text optimisation, and how it can be used to strengthen your offsite SEO and backlink profile.
Anchor text is the clickable text within a hyperlink. It is a visible and often underlined part of a web page or document that, when clicked, takes the user to another web page or resource on the internet. Anchor text serves as a brief label or description of the linked content, providing users with a clear idea of what to expect when they click the link.
There are several different types of anchor text that you can use when you are creating content for your site and they all have a role to play when it comes to SEO.
Definition: This type of anchor text precisely matches the target keyword or phrase you want to emphasise.
Example: If your focus keyword is “digital marketing,” the anchor text used would be “digital marketing.”
Usage: Exact match anchor text can be potent for SEO when employed naturally and sparingly. However, excessive use may raise suspicions with search engines, potentially leading to penalties.
Definition: Partial match anchor text includes a portion of the target keyword or phrase, often in combination with other words.
Example: For the target keyword “best SEO practices,” the anchor text might read “learn about the best SEO practices.”
Usage: Partial match anchor text strikes a balance by incorporating keyword elements while providing additional context. It can be effective for both SEO and user understanding.
Definition: Branded anchor text employs the brand or company name as the clickable text.
Example: When linking to Apple’s homepage, the anchor text simply states “Apple.”
Usage: Branded anchor text is vital for establishing brand recognition and identity. It’s also a safe choice as it’s less likely to trigger search engine penalties.
Definition: Generic anchor text consists of non-specific phrases like “click here,” “read more,” or “learn more.”
Example: “Click here to read the latest news.”
Usage: While not particularly descriptive, generic anchor text enhances user experience by providing clear guidance on where to click. However, it holds less SEO value due to its lack of keyword relevance.
Definition: Image anchor text pertains to links associated with images and is derived from the image’s alt text.
Example: Clicking on an image with the alt text “digital marketing services” is equivalent to clicking on anchor text with the same text.
Usage: Image anchor text is critical for optimising image-based links. It aids search engines in understanding the linked image’s content and contributes to SEO efforts.
Anchor text first and foremost is designed to aid the user experience, if you are using exact match anchor text that does not make sense in the content it is linking from then this will not be a good user experience and it will not have a positive impact on SEO. It is meant to give the user an idea of the content they are clicking through to, this goes for both human users and search engines crawl bots. In terms of its purpose for SEO, there are a few use cases that include optimisation for specific keywords, better internal linking and backlink building from other sites.
If you are looking to optimise both your internal and external links for your site, make sure you use the following best practices to improve SEO without appearing spammy:
Relevance is Key:
Ensure that your anchor text is relevant to the content it’s linking to. This helps users and search engines understand the context of the link.
Diverse Anchor Text Types:
Use a variety of anchor text types, including exact match, partial match, branded, generic, and image-based, to create a natural-looking backlink profile. Avoid overusing any one type.
Keyword Research:
Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords for your content and use these keywords naturally throughout your content.
Contextual Linking:
Embed your anchor text within the context of your content, it should flow naturally within the sentence or paragraph.
Natural Language:
Write anchor text that sounds like a natural part of the content. Avoid overly keyword-stuffed or forced-sounding phrases.
Avoid Over-Optimization:
Don’t over-optimize by using exact match anchor text excessively. This can trigger search engine penalties. Use exact match sparingly and strategically.
Branded Anchor Text:
Include branded anchor text when appropriate, especially for links to your homepage or brand-specific content. It builds brand recognition and trust.
In addition to its potential to drive better results for your offsite SEO, anchor text is also an important element of your internal SEO.
Using a tool like Screaming Frog, you are able to find internal links within your site, and these are crucial when it comes to signifying to Google what the important pages are and where you want the link equity spread. Using the following steps, you can start to optimise these internal links from an anchor text perspective:
1. Use a tool like Screaming Frog (or Google) to find mentions of a keyword you are looking to target on your site, for this example we are looking to increase our internal links for ‘SEO audits’.
2. Dive into the specific pages and find mentions and content that makes sense to include a link back to the SEO audits page for:
3. Add the link! Rinse and repeat, keep track of the ones you have tweaked and you are well on your way to building optimised internal links (with sensible anchor text on your site).
If you are interested in our SEO audits or want to learn more about how anchor text and both internal and external links can improve your SEO, then get in touch with the Varn team today.
Bristol Creative Industries is supporting jfdi with the 7th annual jfdi/Opinium New Business Barometer. This report is an absolute necessity for anyone who has a focus on building their agency’s new business as it will arm you with valuable insights and industry-wide stats to benchmark your performance.
If you’re an agency owner, managing director or part of your agency’s senior management team, please take a few minutes to complete the survey and you’ll receive a copy of the unique report as soon as it’s available in the new year.
In return, as well as the free report, you’ll:
jfdi will run a dedicated online roundtable for the BCI community if we get 30 responses from the region, so we encourage you to complete the survey and help make this happen.
jfdi help agencies grow by winning new business. The team are privileged to have worked with over 1000 agencies – both large and small and across marketing disciplines. The one thing they all have in common is their ambition to grow. For these bold and ambitious agencies, jfdi offer a mix of strategy, creativity and action that works in the real world not just in workshops and away-days.
SEO is more than merely optimising the text on a page for search engines. It is important to design the overall user experience, including the visual components. This experience depends heavily on images, which, when properly optimised, can significantly boost your site’s SEO performance.
Each part of SEO’s multifaceted approach is crucial to the overall success of a website’s exposure. Images among these aspects are frequently disregarded as merely cosmetic features. But nothing could be further from the reality than this notion. When used correctly, images are crucial to SEO.
Humans are naturally visual beings. Studies show that text is processed by the human brain 60,000 times slower than visuals. This implies that the photos you use on your website can leave an immediate impact on visitors, often even before they start reading. Utilising captivating, pertinent photos can hold the attention of your audience, ensuring they stay on your site longer, lowering bounce rates, and letting search engines know that your material is valuable.
Without any pictures, try reading a thorough article about the old Roman buildings. Sounds difficult, huh? Images give context, aid in the visualisation of complicated concepts, and increase the accessibility and digestibility of knowledge. Users may spend more time on your website as a result of their improved comprehension, which will help your SEO.
Although text is necessary, large passages of it can become boring to readers. Images provide a respite, which improves the taste and enjoyment of the information. User experience is important, but search engines also favour websites with rich, varied information for their users.
Engaging visuals are more likely to be shared on social media sites, especially infographics or original graphics. Increased social sharing can result in increased visitors, better brand recognition, and perhaps even more backlinks, all of which are good things for SEO.
Users can access your website through entirely other channels thanks to image searches like those on Google Images. By making photos SEO-friendly, you can attract visitors who may be looking for visual information that is directly relevant to your niche and open up a new channel for organic traffic.
The significance of visuals is amplified by the growing prevalence of mobile browsing. Large amounts of text might be overwhelming on smaller screens. Images help to break this up, making the surfing experience for mobile users more pleasurable and less intimidating. Images are essential to mobile SEO since search engines use mobile friendliness as a ranking factor.
In the digital sphere, images are a captivating form of communication. However, if not optimised properly, their potential can be wasted, resulting in longer loading times and lost SEO prospects. Let’s examine the numerous strategies you may employ to fully leverage the potential of photos for the SEO of your website.
If you want to understand how to learn SEO, images are an important factor to take into account. Selecting the best image for your text is crucial before moving on to technological optimisations.
While stock photos are convenient, original images, whether they’re photographs, illustrations, or graphics, resonate more with audiences. They add a unique touch to your content and can increase trust and credibility.
Make sure the image complements and closely ties to your content. An unnecessary graphic can perplex readers and distract them from the point you’re attempting to make.
Once you have the right images, the next step is to ensure they are technically optimised for web use.
Different image formats are used for various purposes:
File sizes can be decreased without a noticeable loss of quality using programmes like Compressor.io or TinyPNG. Keep in mind that faster loading times result in reduced file sizes, which is essential for both user experience and SEO.
Making sure that photos appear correctly on devices of all sizes is essential in a world that is constantly moving towards mobile. You can instruct browsers to display various pictures dependent on the device’s screen size by using HTML properties like’srcset’.
Alt text and titles aren’t just afterthoughts; they play a significant role in image SEO.
A text description of a picture is known as alt text, or “alternative text.” It should be succinct while still being descriptive enough to convey the meaning and goal of the image. It helps search engines and users who are blind understand the image.
Alt text has two purposes: it improves accessibility and increases SEO. Screen readers will read out the alt text, which captures the spirit of the image, for people who are blind or visually handicapped. Because search engines cannot “see” images the way humans can, the alt text also gives search engines context. The relevancy of your material in search results can be enhanced by an image that is well-described.
Should your alt text contain keywords? While it might be advantageous, it ought to be carried out naturally. Keyword stuffing can lead to poor user experience and may even be penalised by search engines.
The title attribute offers additional information and is often displayed as a tooltip when a user hovers over an image. While not as crucial as alt text for SEO, it can enhance user experience.
In the information-rich digital age, it is crucial to present content in a logical and understandable way. Structured data and detailed outcomes now. These words may sound like high-tech jargon, yet they are crucial to contemporary SEO and user experience.
A defined framework for categorising the content on a webpage is called structured data. Webmasters can give search engines detailed information about the content, its context, and its relationships by employing structured data. In essence, it functions as a “cheat sheet” for search engines regarding what is on a page.
Structured data comes in a variety of formats, but the following are the most used ones:
Search engines attempt to comprehend the context of the material when they crawl a website. This procedure is aided by structured data because it provides clear hints as to a page’s intent. For instance, structured data can tell a search engine whether the word “Avatar” on a page relates to the James Cameron movie, a user’s online profile image, or a philosophical idea.
When search engines are equipped with the additional insights provided by structured data, they can create enhanced search listings, known as ‘rich results’ (previously referred to as ‘rich snippets’).
Image SEO optimisation is a complex procedure that involves more than just resizing. You may improve both the user experience and search engine rankings for your website by comprehending and putting into practise a variety of optimisation tactics.
Until recently, the menopause was something that was not understood and not talked about in equal measure. But after several celebs spoke about their experiences, it became something of a hot topic, with many ‘experts’ appearing to offer help, like tips for a ‘menopause diet’.
We needed to cut through this noise when we created the Hartwell brand. This was different: its founder Natasha Hartwell was a nutritional therapist who based her work on science and evidence-based results, and made real-world, practical suggestions. This was a real expert who could actually help with the symptoms of menopause, and help people feel like themselves.
Hartwell’s approach was a fantastic differentiator and a great place to start, so we began the process of building the brand around this strong core idea.
As with any branding, whether we’re creating a brand or refreshing one, we need to understand what makes it unique, what makes it tick and what makes other people care.
We started a deep dive into Hartwell’s way of working, including how it does it, what it values and its ambitions. The answers to these big questions would help define the new brand’s values and personality, which would lead us towards how the brand should look and feel.
Hand in hand with that, we also carried out an audit of the busy world Hartwell would be entering, specifically focusing on the menopause diet market. What were existing competitors doing? And was any of it working? We discovered an ocean of word salad, bland imagery and ‘mumsiness’, with very few examples of brands who really knew how to communicate what they were doing.
We held a focus group for people going through menopause, to find out about their general experience and if they had tried menopause diets. It was clear that they felt unseen and unsupported, and were suffering emotionally as well as physically.
Our research showed us that to reach as many people as possible, Hartwell had to be very clear with its messaging, putting its unique science-based approach front and centre. But to connect emotionally, this clarity had to feel personal. As a result, we made the decision that the voice of Hartwell would be Natasha, so it would be all written in first person, and talking directly to the target audience – just as it would be in a one-to-one consultation.
This connected perfectly with the decision to use Natasha’s surname as the name of the brand (her name, her voice) and also helped to complete the circle with the logo, which feels like a signature.
This hand-drawn logotype not only gives the brand a personal, human appeal, it also shows that Natasha is not afraid to sign her name to her work. The brand’s confident because its work is based on evidence – Natasha knows that she can genuinely help her clients.
We created a stacked version of the logo too, primarily to work with social media and smaller spaces, but also with one eye on the future, where ‘Eat well’, ‘Live well’ and other variations could be used.
The logo had been developed as part of a stylescape. These are visual explorations of a brand driven by a core thought, and include everything from brand palettes and imagery through to typefaces. They’re a great way to ensure everything is designed as a family, not in isolation, and to see the entire brand working together.
This particular stylescape was based on the idea of empowering clients, factual information, non-judgemental advice and friendly support. Those building blocks led us to a colour palette that was vibrant and earthy, warm and dignified. We purposefully kept away from a palette that was overtly feminine.
Brand imagery centred on collages which connected the way of life our audience wanted to get back to, with nature. The collage construction gave us the scope to tell infinite stories, while the connection to nature was a common theme throughout the work, coming both from Natasha’s understanding of nutrition, and people’s connection to cycles.
Finally, and developed from the hand-drawn logo, we introduced the squiggle. This graphical motif doesn’t have a defined form, and instead is unique each time it’s used, just like Hartwell’s clients and the advice Natasha gives them. The squiggle device can be used to frame text, create direction or simply bring some visual interest to a design, and helps to bring the whole visual identity together.
As part of the brand launch, we designed and wrote the Hartwell website. We initially mapped out a number of user journeys so we could design the perfect UX for the busy audience. Our goal was to show enough to prove Hartwell’s credentials, and then invite the audience to take the next step by getting in touch. Copy was therefore kept to a minimum, with the approach being to balance the warm, personal tone with the science that backed it up. This was helped by the brand fonts, the soft and warm New Spirit, paired with the strong and steady Elza Text.
The look of the site mirrored this balance, with a clean look punctuated with lifestyle/nature combination images that brought energy to every page. With minimal copy, the space in the design really helped to deliver a fresh experience, in contrast with nearly every one of Hartwell’s competitors.
The finished brand feels like a modern lifestyle/health brand (not a faddy menopause diet plan), which has the confidence to show what it can do, without having to tell its audience everything it can do.
Find out more about Hartwell Nutrition here
We’ve won a few awards to date but this is the biggest one so far, our first gold! “The Third Angle,”, a podcast we make for industrial software company PTC won the Gold for Best Business Podcast at the British Podcast Awards in September. In all honesty I was shocked, not that I think it’s not worthy, I’m hugely proud of it and the team who make it, but, the competition was heavyweight! It beat podcasts from the likes of the FT, The Economist, and the BBC.
The judges said some kind things: “This is how to do a corporate podcast, I love the fact that they get more from the guests than just a simple interview. The tours and interactive parts bring this to a different level. It’s a blend of geeky and clever – but also really accessible.”
“The Third Angle” provides a refreshing dive into the design and engineering world. It’s not just a corporate message board for PTC. Instead, it offers listeners an intimate tour behind the curtain of innovation. By avoiding the cliché Zoom chats and taking the listener into real-life settings – whether that’s a Danish lab, an Essex workshop, or a Nairobi production line.
I really do think our Bristol roots inspire us to think differently, to be authentic, and we always try where we can to harness the rich tapestry of creative talent that we have here.
Every detail of “The Third Angle,” from its visual identity to the futuristic and playful soundtrack (created by a Bristol-based composer), is curated to make the podcast memorable and stand out, something that listeners would eagerly share with friends and colleagues, which is vital when the business podcast space is so competitive.
The win I think reaffirms our belief that corporate podcasts, when produced with flair, can compete with anything out there. A big part of the success is also down to our client PTC who have really got behind the creative vision.
For anyone contemplating stepping into the branded or corporate podcast world we’re always happy to chat about how to make sure you get cut through. In this vibrant Bristol community, standing out is what we do best!
If you have a well-optimised website and an SEO strategy in place, you are probably used to seeing reliable and healthy levels of organic search traffic reaching your site every day. With any luck, you can see this SEO traffic growing over time. So what happens if one day you look at Google Analytics and see that this traffic has plummeted?
Before you panic, have a look at our advice for investigating the issue. Follow these five steps to help you discover the cause for the sudden drop in organic search performance.
There’s a big difference between your website not getting any visits from organic search, and you simply not being able to see the visits. If your Google Analytics account shows traffic dropping off a cliff, perhaps GA is the issue rather than your site. There are a number of reasons your tracking might be disrupted. Find out whether anyone in your organisation has changed the website code – perhaps your tracking code has been accidentally deleted or modified.
We recently saw something similar happen to a client after they updated the Cookies pop-up on their website. Their Cookies policy would only track visitors who had actively opted-in, but the new pop-up was small and easy to miss, leading to a sudden and steep decline in the amount of visits being tracked. Double check that your GA4 tracking is working correctly before you start to troubleshoot any other issues.
If you are sure that your website is showing visits correctly, but organic search traffic is still significantly lower than you would expect it to be, it might be that a technical error is preventing search engines from indexing your content. The first place to look is Google Search Console. Here you can get a glimpse of how the world’s biggest search engine views your site. Have a look at the performance tab to see if and when clicks fell, then take a look at the listed indexing errors to see what might have gone wrong.
One useful tactic is to look in Google Analytics to see which landing pages have lost the most SEO traffic, and then look at some of these individual pages on Google Search Console. You will be able to see when the page was last crawled by Google, whether it is currently indexed, and if there is a specific error or issue standing in the way. This should set you on the right track to know what you can do to fix the problem.
If your website tracking is correct, and your pages are all indexing without any errors… what next? Have a look beyond your site to the wider landscapes of the web, your industry, and even the world as a whole. There are all sorts of external factors that could affect your site’s performance on search. Let’s take a look at a few:
Seasonal impacts. Many websites will naturally see peaks and troughs throughout the year. If your site is new, you might not be expecting this. In many industries, Christmas, public holidays or even a sudden heat wave can prompt a steep decline in searches and a corresponding sudden drop in SEO traffic.
Still struggling to understand why organic search traffic has plummeted? Perhaps your competitors have suddenly upped their game. Whilst it is unlikely that an improved SEO strategy on the part of a competitor would cause an immediate and sudden drop in your search traffic, it could be that a competitor has begun a significant paid search campaign. If someone else starts bidding on the kinds of search terms that usually send lots of organic search traffic to your website, you may feel the impact.
Paying for Google Ads gives your competitors access to the very top slots within Search Engine Results Pages, and plenty of people don’t recognise ads within Google. This could push down your organic search listings and potentially eat away at your traffic. On the other hand – have you yourself just begun to run paid search campaigns? If so, you may find that you are cannibalising the traffic that used to make its way to your website via organic search.
Still stumped? If your organic search traffic has taken a worrying dive and you cannot identify a reason from the above steps, it might be time to look deeper into your site’s technical SEO set up. There are over two hundred factors considered by Google and other search engines when deciding how to rank your content, so there are many elements to investigate to understand all the SEO risks and opportunities for your website. The experts at Varn will be happy to conduct an in-depth audit of your site to work out exactly what has happened and help you get up and running once more. Give us a call to find out more about how we can help.
We are thrilled to announce a significant milestone in our agency’s history, with the appointment of Hannah Williams as Managing Director.
Hannah has been an integral part of our journey here at Halo for almost 10 years and her dedication, expertise, and commitment to our clients and the studio have been nothing short of remarkable.
This promotion is not only a testament to her exceptional leadership and strategic vision, but also a reflection of Halo’s commitment to nurturing talent and helping people shape meaningful careers to grow and succeed as leaders in the creative industries.
As Managing Director, Hannah will be leading Halo into a new era of excellence, shaping brands with strategy, storytelling and design; growing the agency the right way as a certified B Corp.
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating Hannah and this exciting new era of Halo.
Renewable electricity company Good Energy, in collaboration with Bristol-based agency, McCann, has revealed its new TV advert urging homeowners to choose the greener option with a Good Energy heat pump.
The 20 second ad, voiced by soul singer and songwriter Lemar, features an animation of a deflating home with the question ‘heating letting your home down?’
Two animated engineers then install a heat pump onto the deflated home, which then reinflates as viewers are encouraged to choose hassle free heating and ‘fill their home with Good Energy’.
The ad brings to life Good Energy’s premium heat pump installation offering, providing customers with a fully in-house expert service from design through to installation and on to aftercare, ensuring that switching to a heat pump is hassle free.
Broadcasting soon after the government announced a 50% increase in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for installing a heat pump to £7,500, the ad will be shown via Sky Adsmart and ITVX to viewers in Good Energy’s key catchment areas in the South and South West.
Good Energy worked with McCann Bristol on the creative development and media strategy for the advert, which is appearing from October 9th, and will be supported with digital retargeting and local PR activity.
Laura Wildish, Head of Marketing, Good Energy said: “Heat pumps are a real hot topic right now. With the increase to the grant, and as people are turning their heating on, lots of people will be thinking about making the switch.
“Our ad is for people who might have been considering for a while but want to know they are going to get expert advice and a good service. We hope lots more homes will be filled with Good Energy soon.”
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We’re delighted to announce Gravitywell’s rebrand.
Delivered by the superb team at Seon Creative, our new identity emphasises our status as Bristol’s Venture Studio.
A Venture Studio deploys its expertise, resources and infrastructure to generate and validate startup ideas, then build and launch them into the market.
At Gravitywell, we do this by offering a full suite of hard and soft services to validate, fund, design, build and launch PoC, prototypes and MVP software products.
“This is a long overdue alignment of the brand with Gravitywell’s mission. I’m thrilled to be part of this exciting vision and proud to support a bold position in the tech startup industry.”
— Simon Bos, Founder, Gravitywell
If you’re a tech founder — or an entrepreneur with an innovative idea for a startup — Gravitywell can help build and launch your business.
Contact us today.
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