Drifting into March…
Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes and it is a maxim I like. It always reminds me that we have to make change when we think that all is in fact okay, and it is not okay. The maxim sits comfortably with understanding that it is all too easy to keep following the same path expecting different results (also known as the insanity quote and oft wrongly attributed to Einstein.)* Human beings are creates of habits, or routines akin to a computer. Have a read of Atomic Habits by James Clear. It is good to learn that it can be near impossible for the conscious to overcome deep routed subconscious routines. But if we know of the routines running beneath the subconscious we can tackle them and make change.
The above relates to a live specimen, but what of a company, a partnership, a sole trader and so on? These are made up and run by people, and so we can apply the concept of change to overcome business insanity.
Any business continuing on and on does run the risk of getting the exact same results again and again, when it wants and needs change, and this is business insanity. But does a business that gets the same results do no wrong? In fact why fix something that is not broken? Is there a huge flaw in my reasoning.
Soooo… how do I know if my business is INSANE?
Remember the insanity of doing the same thing, and expecting different results. Or the danger of not changing and being satisfied with with a status quo.
What can I do?
So we have established the business ain’t changing, it’s still doing the same thing, yup it’s making money, but it could be on a precipice, or in decline, or maintaining a status quo and not growing. But it could be growing and doing well. Thing is do we need to do something? All depends on the research phase and what we want to do.
* Civil rights campaigner and feminist writer Rita Mae Brown is the real author of the phrase. In her 1983 book Sudden Death, Brown attributes the quote to a fictional ‘Jane Fulton’. However, the idea of a link between repetition and insanity can be traced back to the 19th century.
Mission control this morning.
Thinking - the evening of Thursday 27th February 2025.
Well Keir Starmer is in Washington talking to, or being talked at by Donald Duck. I am in bed typing away and thinking. Smooth Chill Radio is playing some good tunes on the Google Nest Max, and Claire downstairs having a brew with a colleague who has popped over.
This I now realise is how business life can also be for those who choose to make the leap. The leap into living life via your business and not for your business. You may need to do a double take on that sentence, but it does make sense.
I’ve not checked out MAD//Fest in Manchester, which is the advertising, marketing, and media event that has come up from London, and to be honest if you do the maths you’ll realise I’m also not attending since I am in Tobermory and Manchester is a long walk away (and swim.)
But to be honest I’m glad I am not there. I’ve glanced at my LinkedIn feed and can see a lot of posts relating to the event in between the posts of the day from connections. It is withering to be honest; to read, to see, and very ego centric. I used to be like that, maybe not the worse. And I suspect the event has brought all that London has to offer - eyes roll upwards.
My approach to life nowadays has changed to one of living in the moment and action. And I shy away from publicity, grandstanding with statements on social media especially LinkedIn, and can imagine compatriots rubbing shoulders with various job titles and thinking how “good” they are; depending on what you define as “good”.
I prefer now to get on with things and help other people and businesses and if I get paid then great. And if I deliver good results, then great. In fact it makes me smile to hear of a business growing, or people for that matter as a result of my input. It is a healthy approach to my life and that of others. Being transparent and authentic is key to living I now feel. And I’d rather tell a business man x, y, z and that to sort it out he needs to do a, b, c and that I can help and that it will cost money, and this is what he can expect. Simple, honest, straightforward and not a case of milking someone or a business and of being smug about it whether conscious or unconsious.
(Seeing the photos and copy as to MAD//Fest I could only taste smugness.)
Moving into February and halfway through Q1.
Sat here with the warmth of a fire in a Banjo Beale inspired room at the Western Isles Hotel in Tobermory.
Claire and Calum are playing pool. I’m, well, relaxing with one eye on pool and now watching darts; safely out of throwing radius.
It is a good thing to be living here after our, my journey.
I was looking at LinkedIn earlier, at all the advertising contacts I have posting in the news feed. I used to do that. And used to be part of that. Not anymore. And I’m glad.
It’s all, sucks breath in, bullshit, ego, and a desperate want to be part of a business your in. A craven way of seeking love in the advertising business, which does not exist.
On a practical level it is boring to read and may as well have been written by AI, devoid of anything bearing resemblance to the truth, or of interest. For the most part boastful, ego driven, and prattling on about how good said post writer is. Why not be honest and say you have had a crap week?
Donald and the Advertising Industry
Well it was the first day in the Oval office for Donald Duck. I had a think and recorded a video, nothing detailed, but happy to help where someone needs to navigate change due to macro factors.
Acting as a sales director
Walking alongside Loch Ba, Isle of Bull.
To anyone one, or any business that needs a good Sales or Commercial Director, I’m your Man!
I don’t with to be arrogant or boastful. Not at all. I merely state the truth. And being honest is a key, if not the most important element in what makes a good sales person.
I started my sales career in 1994 in national Press moving to ITV, and ultimately agency side. Always delivering results.
I thus have knowledge, experience, and track record in creating a sales pipeline, cold selling across to formal tender response and pitching. Working with and pulling a team together to win the business. And this is a commodity sale or a bespoke sale, with some ticket values running into six and seven figures.
I started off in traditional advertising and moved into online advertising; and represent a rare breed of sales and commercial person who straddles the old and new worlds of advertising, marketing, and media.
I’ve worked for and set up start ups that were subsequently sold. I’ve been employed by some sizeable businesses working on big brands; at 29
I was a Business Development at ITV in London working on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Survivor.
So I do know a lot indeed. And this can be harnessed to help grown a business through a solid new business sales process, and account management of clients.
So if you:
Need someone to look at your sales process and staff, then I’m for hire.
If you need a new business pipeline building from scratch then I can help.
Or if you need me to parachute into your business as a sales or commercial director then don’t hesitate to contact me.
Looking out over Loch Na Keal toward Balnahard and Eorsa island.
Pay per Click search advertising (PPC)
View from the found us office over Tobermory
A possibly contentious or easy to utilise form of advertising that originated from the search market that was created (and believe it or not copied from and not invented by Google) by Goto.com, that rebranded to Overture, that was then acquired by Yahoo! I worked for the company and have a very much deep depth knowledge of the PPC marketplace, initially Search but now straddling other channels, e.g. Social Media.
I am keen to work with companies or people on the Isle of Mull where I live in Tobermory, or Oban and the Argyll and Bute area. That said I work UK wide and internationally, and have done so for years.
PPC (Pay Per Click) from Tobermory, Isle of Mull and Oban
I don’t propose to write reams on PPC as it a quite mature channel now and arguable one must focus on the quality of a company’s website and a customers path to it and through it, and of how we can create a desired action that benefits company and customer, for example a sale.
I understand the metrics of making paid search and pay per click media (Programmatic Display for example) work for a business to achieve above, below, or through the line results. I have over 20 years experience in the area.
Looking out from Oban to the island of Kerrera and beyond the Isle of Mull
I can distill my knowledge into the following areas where I can help
Understanding the concept of PPC, how it works, of how it can fit in and supplement all marketing activity, but does not have to be the “expensive” be and end all that it can be, as well as you advertising “red herring”.
Understanding and grasping how the technology works, for example how to structure a Google Ads account to leverage the Quality Score element of the channel, across to buying correctly via a DSP.
Understanding the importance of content to leverage the advertising platforms position “reward” systems, i.e. position in Sponsored Links for a keyword, without degradation of content serving its purpose of attracting consumers into taking a purchasing, non-purchasing action, and brand being negatively affected through poor copy writing.
Working with you to enhance your website to initiate good customer action. It is in one sense very easy to get the customer to the company website, but so so many customers don’t find a website “sticky” and “bounce” away, and thus the marketing activity and spend are wasted. We can help with ad copy, landing pages, and page/website testing whether A/B or as advanced as multivariate. A website like Amazon is leagues ahead of other eCommerce websites with a killing double figure website conversion rate.
And this brings me onto data. Which does not have to be slavish and look nice. We/I’ve knowledge of drilling down into the data in order to use it to benefit company and customer. It is a big area, and an important one, and involves software such as Google Analytics. You need to know your “bang for your buck”. Suffice to say we love crunching numbers and data.
Lastly and maybe this should be point 1. We crucially help with drilling down into what it is you sell by way of product or service, who you sell it to and how your customers buy from you. We then drill down even further for example by looking at relevant keyword searches across to usage of the correct copy. This is the research phase way before you do anything media wise, and the bit of the iceberg under the waterline; the large bit, the important bit. I’ve many years of experience in researching what companies do, and of how they can successfully use digital marketing bought on a pay per click or other cost metric.
I am happy to work on a consultancy, fee based offering, or commission only model. This can very much suit the smaller (or larger) business with finite and precious online marketing budget.
Tobermory Harbour
Search engine optimisation in Oban, Tobermory, Argyll and Bute
A business or person listing in SERPS - search engine results pages - can be a much misunderstood process and one shrouded in mystery for most.
Main Street, Tobermory - one of the places I work from
But it is actually quite straight forward.
found us can help you with this area and here is a nice little commentary the practice of Search Engine Optimisation, and of how we can help.
Have a read below and don’t hesitate to say hello.
SEARCH ENGINES
We all use them. Mostly Google in the UK with over 90% of searches coming from this one entity. But when you consider sheer numbers of searches you also need to look to other players. For example Bing.
A search engine is effectively a database of websites across the UK (being UK specific here.) A user types a search and results are delivered on a web page, know as a SERP or search engine results pages. The viewer clicks on their desired result (also known as listing or from a Geek point of view, snippet) and is taken to that website.
Here I am talking about natural listings and the paid for ones (separate article to come on this area) commonly know as Sponsored Links and normally positioned to the top of the results page.
Technically all business is a numbers game. The more people though the shop door, the more likelihood of a sale. And you encourage potential purchasers of a product or service by stock positioning, attractive packaging, price, accessibility (is it in stock?)
Same applies, as has been discovered, to the web. The online shop so to speak. A customer finds you via a big shopping mall (Google) after typing in a search query. They decided to enter your store versus others by clicking on the search result. Your search result is your invitation to a potential consumer.
On then clicking the link the user is taken to a website. From here a number of factors come into play.
Think of all of this as a sales process as defined by the acronym for the sales structure AIDA.
Attention - obtain a customers attention within the many results that are shown.
Interest - create interest via your result title and body copy (known as a Result, Listing or Snippet.)
Desire - match the customer need with your product or service benefits as detailed in the result, snippet, or listing.
Action - on creating desire we stimulate the customer to click on your result.
The searcher has a need we want them to fulfil this by their clicking on your search engine result, and being taken to your product or service. Your part to play is well written copy that captures the searcher’s attention and matches the need they have as expressed in the search. We’ll come onto the actual website after that.
A SIMPLE 2 STEP PROCESS - SEARCH TO CLICK AND WEBSITE
STEP 1 SEARCH TO CLICK
It is NOT simply about copy writing with SEO - search engine optimisation. Well it is, but there is a little more to it.
You have to really go back to basics before even looking to a website. And you can blow a lot of marketing money on an ill produced website.
Our task is to match the search intentions of the customer. In search we refer to brand and non-brand terms. Brand terms relate to your business brands including products and services. Non brand refers to all other terms. For example “Coca-Cola" versus “soft drink”. And you need to optimise for both.
Search Terms / Search Queries
Q: how is someone going to find you via a search on a search engine?
A: use you pre-existing knowledge of the customer and your marketing. Blend with what you observe from online and search data.
Remember the acronym - WHATS.
What do you make? How do you make it? To what area to you sell to? To whom do you sell to? What special features do you have?
You need to get back to basics and evaluate what you make and sell, whether service or product. And what might be exclusive to you. Such information can form the basis of deciding what search terms you wish to use for your business, its product, its service.
You need to understand who your customer is and get inside their head. How do they think? How are they likely to find your product via a search engine query/search terms?
This can be aligned with offline point of sale and marketing activities. How would someone find you in the “real world”? How would they find you in a shopping mall, a superstore? How does your ambient media appeal to users? We need to get back to basics of how we meet a customer’s need at the point in time when that need coalesces?
Search engines are databases and there is analogy with a big shopping mall, or superstore. How does the customer find the shop you sell from or the product on the shelf if they were to ask the passer by?
For example we are a business that runs a hotel in Oban, where there are many other hotels and accommodation providers. You know from your marketing and customers that you are found via people asking about “hotels in Oban”, “hotels in Argyll and Bute”, or the name of your hotel “Peter Cobley Hotel”. You now have queries that translate well to the web.
Online data and research
Search words, search queries, keywords, search terms are basically one in the same thing. It is what the searcher enters into a search engine.
We are now beginning to build up brand and non-brand search terms.
But we also have a wealth of online data that we can mine from our website, free, and paid for tools. Examples can be Google’s Analytics, or Search Console, or some very sexy paid for tools.
Zapier have kindly provided a neat article: The 11 Best SEO Tools in 2025.
Search listing, snippet, website copy
This is where we go back to AIDA - the sales process that applies in all cases. It is a crucial fact that life for people is not divided into web and non-web. But as businesses we can think this way.
Your search engine copy and web copy is your traditional point of sale and both must interact with each other, customer, and a search query. It should fluidly follow the searcher’s thinking “I need a hotel in Oban, I can see Peter Cobley Hotel, and the hotel is both central and showing a 10% offer. I’ll have a look and click”.
Pixie dust and magic
I am not going to go into the more technical side of things. But the following rules apply when it comes to getting “good” search engine results for your chosen search terms.
The higher up the listings on SERPS mean more clicks.
Getting the higher positions can involve “working” the hidden stuff that makes Google what it is, Bing what it is etc.
You may have heard of PageRank, algorithms, viewing and click rates. Blah, blah, blah. But don’t panic - it is not as complex as you think.
Paid listings (PPC, Pay per click) interact with each natural search engine results.
How your website performs is a factor in your position for a search term.
I AM NOT GOING to cover this bit off, suffice to say we know about it in detail and can explain all to you. AND the above is not a definitive list.
The view from the found us office
STEP 2 LISTING TO WEBSITE
Copy and “themes”
When the user arrives on the website it is ideal that the copy reflects the search term they used especially a specific one relating to product or service. The same principles apply as in any offline sales process. For example, if we have successfully navigated the user searching for Christmas pud to the relevant aisle and Christmas pud cannot be located then we have wasted a lot of marketing effort, unless our particular customer is happy to search.
Same applies for the click from listing to website. If you drop the user onto the home page when they are searching specifically, e.g. “double room in Oban hotel” then don’t be surprised of a high bounce rate as users leave the site.
Thematic copy and process is so important. And what do I mean by this? The user is following a train of thought and we have to mirror this in the copy and it positioning.
This is where skill comes in as we look to the very bare bones of a website and how it functions as both a sales, information, or tool vehicle.
I have focused on retail in this post but am at pains to explain that not all websites sell product and service, and that the above does also apply.
It is about structuring your website of linking its copy and disparate parts to search terms and listings, of optimising for what the customer wants and needs of a website. OF NOT OVER OPYTIMISING FOR SEO and so reducing a customer facing means of engagement to a mere amalgam of search terms.
Conversion rates
They all stack up if things are done correctly. AND I did say at the start that it is a numbers game.
You appear on page one of the SERPS for terms, thus reaching a large number of searchers.
You have a good click through rate of good, qualified customers on your search engine listings.
The customers who hit your website stay as the content is relevant.
The customers convert to sales or whatever metric you work by beacuse they want what you offer.
We can deliver on the above for you, and it is NOT EXPENSIVE OR COMPLEX, and we can teach you how to do it yourself. No need for an agency, and we will be the first to advise this.
OUR SEARCH ENGINE CREDENTIALS - WHY PETER COBLEY AND FOUND US
A December’s working week in photos.
And what a fine place to live and work - Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Oban.
found us
2 pictures and 2 different found us
It is a funny old world in my life at found us in terms of locations. I currently type from Costa Coffee in Ashton under Lyne, and Claire was on a walk in Tobermory earlier and sent a photo of the bay. I’ll be there for the Easter hols. Just thought it funny in terms of locations and the juxtaposition of the two images (Tosser use of big word alert.) It is funny how location can alter the business mentality I have, its reception, and how I approach things. For example, Tobermory and Mull lend themselves to calm, thoughtfulness, and a considered approach to life and business and a distinct lack of not chasing money.
Sunday 24th March 2024
Been tidying up the website and discovering some wobbly internal links (D- and must do better as official web master) and thought I’d write a brief entry.
Ashton town centre has been nice today and not crowded, in fact positively civilised. I suspect people are out enjoying the nice weather. Blue sky with fluffy clouds which make me smile as I think of the song Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb. A legendary song by a legendary duo, and I groan as I now realise it was released in November 1990. Christ on a Bike that was 30 years ago and I was three months into my first year at the University of Lancaster.
I’ll have to head back to the house in Dukinfield for the simple reason I am starving and have food that will otherwise go to waste. But may grab another coffee en route, from Starbucks.
Slow day today in my being sedentary but have already got a lot done on the laptop.
Biz meetings and new business
Am out in Manchester next week if you fancy a catch up and am on the hunt for new business in the form of senior head hunting briefs and consultancy work. But not desperate. Quality not quantity and in the words of Basil Fawlty, no riff raff please.