Gino Lancaster

Gino is a Freelance Website Designer and Graphic Designer, located in Redcliffe, north Brisbane, Australia. Jennifer is a Copywriter who lives and works with Gino. We serve our customers well from our combined years of running a business. Jennifer has taken over writing the blog because designers just cant write that well, can they? They sure can design well though.

Greenscene offers Sustainable Landscaping

Small Business Brisbane No Responses »
Jun 092010

Greenscene Gardenscope, among RPD’s first clients and our very own Landscapers, have had their website redesigned – and are now running their own Blog. If all landscapers were this savvy, there would be very pretty streets all over Brisbane.

You have to admit, everyone loves a good Before and After landscaping shot. We think this new section offers the most concrete idea of how a project could transform your garden space.

The gallery can give you ideas, such as kinds of water features, types of retaining walls, garden beds and pavers, and commercial landscaping. But you might decide on something completely different.

Brisbane’s gardens and landscapes is a topic on their new blog.

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 3:49 pm

Horton’s Turf new grass on the block

Small Business Brisbane No Responses »
Jun 092010

We have just launched Horton’s Turf new look website – a turf farm who provides a useful turf laying service. It was a learning experience – finding out all about the varieties of grass they recommend.

No wonder I had so much trouble with my home lawn and its weeds – I just didn’t have the right variety, fiddling about instead of having turf prepared and laid properly, with the proper advice on watering and fertilising to keep it looking green. It’s great that we now have David and James Horton to call on for a beautiful green lawn.

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 3:21 pm

Keyword Research for Better Sales Results

SEO tips, marketing strategies No Responses »
Jun 072010

How do keywords impact your final sales results for a Small to Medium Business? Glad you asked. As you are no doubt aware, keywords are what users type into their ‘search query’ on Google or Yahoo or Bing. The right keywords (attracting a paying market) can make or break online merchants and also be helpful for bricks and mortar businesses… because they can get Free Organic Website Traffic.

First of all, how does a business owner know the best keywords? That’s easy, you say, I’m a carpet installer so the keywords are “Carpet installation”… but wait. Is that truly what people are looking for?  If I want a new carpet I am not thinking of the term installation, I am thinking “new carpet”, so this is more likely the term. Also I probably would add an area, like “Brisbane” to ensure my results are localised.

When you get a bit more complex a business with several possibilities that could be targets (and more unknown), that is where the confusion comes in. As a busy proprietor, you don’t want to be spending hours looking for the right keywords (with often inaccurate results from the free online tools).

Solution: Keyword Research Service

I have a tool called “Market Samurai” – it’s software that can return up to 1200 search results in one minute. Give it one key term (e.g. web design) and it can return hundreds of related synonyms, which I sort through and find the best twenty, often putting in the best ones manually. These synonyms are then put into the software and it does a live search on the major engines to find out how many searches per day for these words (Australia or worldwide).

Of these twenty, only around five will be your topmost searched words, with results in the hundreds per day, with a high chance of buying as opposed to browsing (this is a calculated variable).

I have had many surprises in keyword research, one that stands out is “Napoleon Perdis” which receives around 230 searches per day in Australia, believe it or not. (It’s the cosmetics they are after, not the man himself).

What great surprises am I going to find for your business?  Is it worth a small fee of $70 to get a specialist to find the correct keywords?… I believe it’s probably worth ten times that to be on the right path to getting the top natural search results that you want.

You can then have me write the copy around these keywords in the way that it persuades your target customers first, and pleases the search engines second. Because it’s no good getting them to your site if your sales copy is not going to excite them into action. Please enquire direct at jennifer@redplanetdesign.com.au.

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 12:39 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Optimising Your Adwords and Google Places account

Small Business Brisbane, marketing strategies No Responses »
May 312010

Dear Readers, it’s becoming clear that Google Adwords adores changes, making it ever more difficult to run your own account. One new feature is “extensions” to ads, which allows you to put your street address (location), phone numbers, or product details in the last line of the ad – and it comes up if the viewer mouses over your listing on Google Maps. All about Extensions explained.

If you are wondering why these do not show any results – well, it’s up to you to customise these. Here’s what Google Help says:

“Ad extensions must be triggered for any data to appear on the Ad Extensions tab. If you see no statistics on the Ad Extensions tab, this means that your ad extensions have not yet appeared with your ads.

Since ad extensions need to meet special requirements to appear with your ad, it’s normal to see lower numbers on the Ad Extensions tab compared to your Ads tab. Only impressions where both your ad and your extensions have appeared together are reported on the Ad Extensions tab.”

I also recommend you implement the Adwords Conversion Tracking tool, to monitor which of your clicks turn into a desired action on your website, such as a sale or request.

Learn More about Adwords with their short videos :

Google Places

Also check that your Google Places listing is still showing for your main keyword. For some reason (still a mystery to some) they do not show some active business listings, especially if they have recently been naughty by putting suburbs in the descriptions or product details sections.

Ensure your categories reflect your two or three main business services (similar to Yellow Pages categories). And remember to activate your My Places account changes as quickly as possible by allowing SMS or phone activation.

Got a problem with these products?  Call Jennifer on (07) 3103 0238.

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 12:22 pm Tagged with: , , ,

Everything is Branding…

Small Business, marketing strategies No Responses »
May 272010

So you think your logo is your brand. And your signage. OK, and maybe your uniform. Think broader.

You see, everything you do as a business owner publicly affects your Personal Brand. (With Politicians, some things they do privately as well;-)

How about:  What you drive… what you wear… what charities you support… how clean and fresh your building is… what you read… how you shake hands…

Authors of “The Brand Called You” (Peter Montoya & Tim Vandehey) believe that a personal brand makes a promise. Once branding is established, “everything you do will either confirm that promise or contradict it“. Failures are not delivering on those promises, say of great customer service, keeping to deadline, whatever it may be.

Are you living the reality that your Brand commits you to? People can feel authenticity and they can see fakeness.

So when you assess your logo, marketing look and feel, office, attire, car/van, and personal philosophy all together does it give a cohesive message – as Peter says, “does your look suit your brand?”

Things To Do:
1. Talk to your copywriter and graphic designer to create branding tools – slogans, themes, and logo/design look.
2. Attend networking events to get important contacts/referrals.
3. Redesign your “look” (office/clothes/car) to suit your brand.
4. Create a one-year branding budget.
5. Decide on the personal characteristics that will define your personal brand.

(Summarised from P.14, “The Brand Called You”, 2009).

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 10:51 am Tagged with: , , , , ,

What’s the Number 2 Thing Businesses Neglect in their Copy?

copywriting tips, marketing strategies No Responses »
May 252010

Following on from the Number 1 thing missing in business promotional material (empathy with the reader), the number 2 thing which will MAKE or BREAK your advertising and online results is the CALL to ACTION.

Look at the way you ask and what you ask them to do. Even though we Australians tend to abhor hype, you cannot bore customers into action. But you can motivate them.

You yourself may not be motivated to sign up, or pick up the phone to call a business, unless the business offers a freebie, a deadline, and/or a motive. For example, “If you want instant results with your marketing, go to Power of Words now, and receive FREE monthly tips on marketing a small business”. (Hey that’s a real offer!)

A specific offer should always have a deadline and/or a supply shortage (e.g. you only have 23 remaining stock). Research studies have shown much more compliance (and greater results) when you give a good REASON to discount or make an offer. e.g. We have over-ordered 400 widget Xs, so we are offering a FREE widget X with every order. Order by 5 pm Friday 23rd to receive your free widget X.

Recently I received a promotion for a free Laser Printer (worth $500 they say) with a yearly print cartridge order, and I thought WOW that offer really is good. Try to make your customers think WOW. Don’t offer a 10% off discount for no reason!

Create a compelling call to action and your phone will ring off the hook.

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 2:45 pm Tagged with: , ,
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