Challenges with Ranking Well in Competitive Online Markets

SEO tips 5 Responses »
Apr 272010

While we like to encourage anyone to start up a business that they think has a verified market, there are some high barriers to entry for any new website players in the broad areas of hotels, apartments, car loans, home loans, music, books.

There is a wonderful Q & A on how to rank well for a keyword in a highly competitive marketplace (in this case apartments) by  Peter Newsome at ‘Ask Kalena’. The answer to the business owner’s question is quite complex, but here are some great points:

“The number one site ranked for the term ‘apartments’ has over 11,000,000 inbound links and the sites in the other top 5 each have well over 100,000 inbound links.”

“The next challenge will be the age of your website – each of the top sites in this niche have been around for over 10 years.”

Peter also mentions that as advertisers are paying up to $3 per click in Google Adwords, so a high rating campaign could cost as much as $1.2 million per month – WOW!

The point toward the end he makes is true – there are many SEO providers who will tell the client what she wants to hear… But if the business marketer is willing to create a content niche for their business, then they will find more success with a start-up website of any kind. Even a niche as narrow as “coffee lovers in South Queensland”.

As marketing guru Seth Godin says,
“Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don’t”

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 4:50 pm Tagged with: , ,

Build a Business – Marketing with No Money!

Small Business, Small Business Brisbane 6 Responses »
Apr 272010

Marketingbook_coverWhen starting out in business, it is very difficult for a new proprietor to find the cash for marketing. In her recent book for Australians, Leah Squire shares the free and cheap marketing strategies she used to build her own business and brand.

Leah’s book looks at both traditional and non-traditional marketing methods.

• Viral marketing the easy way… did you know that if you send just 50 emails a day your email signature is exposed to over 17,000 people in a year? That’s 17,000 opportunities to promote your business, your latest special, your website and contact details. Spend 15 minutes ensuring you and your staff have effective email signatures and let the free promotion begin.
• Look after your number one clients. We all know it’s expensive to get a new client, so look after your existing ones. Quite often we spend all our energy and money on getting new visitors and neglect the very ones that are the bread and butter of the business. Support your clients and they will support you.
• Get out and mingle… for the cost of a couple of drinks or a lunch you can make new contacts, strike deals and grow your business. Networking, be it face-to-face, online or socially, can open doors and build great business relationships – so get out there and mingle
• E-marketing has to be the cheapest sales tool around, with measurable results. Using e-marketing software will save you hours and by keeping your e-marketing interesting and informative, plus you’ll build customer loyalty and trust.
• Get your logo everywhere. Depending on where you live and travel to work, it is said that we are exposed to around 5000 pieces of advertising in a day. There is a good chance the ones you notice have a strong brand and logo. Companies are even bidding to tattoo foreheads on eBay to build brand awareness… not a path that I recommend, but be inventive! Use your imagination, and get your logo out there!

Leah started her multi-million dollar company just three years ago with $1000 and a marketing budget of zero. Her new book has over 135 pages of ideas to help grow your business. It’s easy to read with 35 relevant chapters sharing the URLs, resources, tips, ideas and skills needed to expand your business without spending a fortune on marketing. At just $24.95, it’s great value advice too. The book is available online at www.marketingwithnomoney.com, or you can order it at a local bookstore.

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 1:10 pm Tagged with: , ,

Why Create a SmartPhone-enabled Website?

New technology, Website Design 18 Responses »
Apr 232010

Of all the smartphones available on the market, iPhone seems the most popular in Australia. But worldwide they have around 15% of the smartphone market, and growing. There are tens of thousands of people using various other devices (Blackberry, Nokia smartphones/Ericsson P series, powered with Symbian), so to make them all happy is quite a trial.

But with 10% of possible visitors coming from a mobile device – more in some cases – savvy website owners had better ensure that they are making it easy for mobile customers to view and use their site. And not just for consumer-targeted businesses, business usage is increasing too – people want to use their smart mobile for practical reasons as well as fun.

You can see that the mobile web is really gaining traction:

  • 36 million people are using Facebook via mobile devices (global figures).
  • Australian users love to download or stream video, with 41% sometimes downloading video from their smart phone. (Nielsen 2010 Internet and Technology report)
  • Neilsen in US discovered that iPhone users are a marketer’s dream: 40% have household incomes of $100K or more – twice the ratio among all subscribers (19%). No figures from Australia that I can find.

Since iPhone’s Safari browser adapts most websites to its screen, the major hurdle is ease of use (e.g. not having to scroll forever). Also steer clear of Java websites, which cannot adapt and may just show as a blue screen.

To become mobile friendly, the two choices for website development are:

- adapt your site to mobile devices, as well as different browsers, OR
- create a new simplified version – a .mobi website

This second option is the one recommended by W3, to meet their web standards best practice. FYI, .mobi websites should not be any more expensive to create and host than regular websites. Of course someone has to design them specially.

You can check your own website for mobile compatibility here:
W3C MobileOK Checker

Don’t panic if your site does not meet the criteria – because it probably will have a long list of coding and graphics no-nos that mobile devices do not like.

When We Design Your Website:

When designing your website, we test on all the major browsers. There are sometimes font based problems and graphical issues, which we go back and fix.

But with a mobile device, there are so many variations that the web developer might be adapting for 100 years! So if you want to be found on a mobile device adequately, please ask at the outset for a Mobile Compatible website. With the software we use as the basic “shell” of the website (which is then customised), there is a variety of looks and navigation options, and there are mobile device compatible themes too.

There is also a possibility to design your own mobile app (application). We have already had an enquiry for this, and are finding talent to fill this niche need. The Apple store reports now having reached 1 Billion Apps downloaded. WOW!

So are you going to look into this for your business, and cash in on the trend towards mobile web usage? Or will you sit back and say “someone ate my cheese”.

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 11:33 am Tagged with: , ,

Google Local Business Listings – Mini SEO

SEO tips, Small Business 10 Responses »
Apr 162010

Since a local business listing (on Google Map) is free, why not make the most of this page and update it with as much information as you can. You will find plenty of people are searching for your services/products in your surrounding area.

First of all, claim your listing if you haven’t already. You can do this in one of two ways.

The first is by searching for your business in Google Maps. Go to Google Maps, type in your business name and click on the “more info” link next to your result on the left hand side. The next screen you’ll see is the page created by Google just for your business. These days the business info is being sourced from Yellow Pages. To edit this page, click the “business owner?” (edit listing) link.

There is another way to make changes. The next time you sign into your Gmail, select “Account Settings”, find “Additional Services”, click on “Local Business Centre”, and click “Set Up” (or edit for existing accounts).

Filling Out Your Details in Full

Firstly, ensure all the information about your business is correct. Similar to Yellow Pages, use the best category for your business services. You can add more refined information in “additional information” section – which can be any product or service or goods you have that people might search for.

The Company/Organisation field is one of the most important pieces of real estate, as it becomes the actual listing title (next to the map) in the Google results. If you can make this slightly more keyword rich, this will give you more chance of a rank in the Google results. Perhaps add your suburb or city here.

But don’t go overboard: Google’s quality guidelines are fairly clear about not being spammy with your company name title. Our writer can help you with this, along with the right words to put under “Description” and “additional information”.

We recommend adding as much information about your business as possible – upload your logo or other pictures, any videos you have, and product or service variations.

Once submitted, you’ll need to verify your listing or listing changes, which Google provides by SMS, phone or mail.

When you have your Google Business Listing up and running, log in. On the reporting page you will see an activity graph, which highlights how many people have been shown your local ad (impressions) and how many have clicked on it. It’s like a mini-analysis tool… so why not use it to judge visitor numbers from local search every month.

Google also lets you create ‘quick coupons’ that people can see when they’re looking at your result on a Google Map, and choose to print out. Offering a 10% off coupon might convince people to choose you over a competitor.

Having used Google Local Business Listings in our home based businesses, we believe it is a boon to any local or regional business owner.

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 1:42 pm Tagged with: , ,

Creating Linkworthy Business Websites

Small Business Brisbane, Website Design 4 Responses »
Apr 072010

Sometimes it pays to be brutally honest with clients who are hopeful of receiving hundreds of links to their online store or basic service website.

“The less useful your content, the less likely you are to ever receive a link to it”

– Eric Ward, LinkMoses

So what can an entrepreneurial type do with their ‘plain brand’ business website?
If you have products you can start marketing them through affiliates. This will attract many varied backlinks as well as sales. If no products, please read on….

Be Credible

To ensure people will take you seriously, SEO Book says “you need to make sure your website adheres to good web credibility standards.
• Is your domain name memorable?
• Does your design complement your copy?
• Is your content interesting and conceptually unique?
• Does your site have an editorial component and voice, or is it a boring low-value thin product database?
• Is your about page memorable?
• Is your site easy to use and understand?
• Do you have a brand people care about? (Points care of SEOBook.com)

You do not need to “have it all” to get started, but the more credible you look the faster you will gain momentum.”

- Aaron Wall, SEO Book.

Realise that the Internet is a Social Medium

Speaking at a conference? You may be surprised that people in the audience send tweets about your talk via their mobile.

Want to get leading bloggers/thought leaders to promote your site? You could create a community project or an exciting contest. If for charity, you will often attract the real media too. (Help this along with a press release).

Continuous Improvement

What does it take to be successful online? Improve your website or update your blog, and start a conversation online at least once a week. (We are posting twice per week – it’s not impossible). A little regular effort may snowball into ‘YOU’ being a thought leader in your field. You might notice I do not say the market leader… because you cannot manipulate people on the Internet, you cannot dominate the market, you can only interest people.

In many ways, the Internet more resembles an ancient bazaar than it fits the business models companies try to impose upon it.

- The Cluetrain Manifesto

The book Cluetrain Manifesto declares that “markets are conversations”, “talk is cheap” and “silence is fatal”… they are referring to blogs and websites.

“Though corporations insist on seeing it as one, the new marketplace is not necessarily a market at all. To its inhabitants, it is primarily a place in which all participants are audience to each other.”

Read the book here for free: www.cluetrain.com

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 5:18 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
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