Keyword Research – part 1

SEO tips, marketing strategies No Responses »
Feb 092011

This is the first part in a series where I’m going to be exploring how to do Keyword Research and generate good leads – particularly for anyone with a new or planned website. It’s true that keyword phrases can make or break a business that relies to some extent on search engine leads.

Why Pay for a Research Tool?

Since I’ve been using Market Samurai tool for nearly a year now, I’ve realised the information that is missing from the free Google Keyword Tool (albeit Samurai still relies on this tool for some search data)… that is both handy and vital to have.

One is ‘OCI’ commerciality – this variable measures the likelihood that searchers could be buyers. (Don’t fret, we’ll cover this later). Two is the ability to see Competition levels, Trends, and Adwords prices all in one screen.

Learn How to Use Professional Keyword Research Tools

Click to see helpful videos about the 1st Golden Rule – How to Find Relevant Keywords with Market Samurai. It’s really good for beginners. I like how they compare it to panning for gold. So true!

After this, go straight onto: 2nd Golden Rule – How to Find High Traffic Keywords

You will then be able to distinguish what defines a high traffic keyword – so you can cherry pick the niche markets/words for you to work on. You won’t believe what you will find out about Google searches!

If you’re running an online business, you’ll need either the correct SEO copywriter or this Market Samurai tool to be in the top 2% of all websites.

Other Relevant Posts:

Building Links for Better SEO

Search Visibility 2: Building a Theme with Keywords

Posted by Jennifer at 1:02 pm Tagged with: , ,

Its Yellow Pages versus Google day

Small Business Brisbane No Responses »
Feb 022011

Are you still wondering whether your website will pay off? Got no idea about online? Just listen to what Joe Public says about Google…

I loved this video on Yellow Pages versus Google from Luke & Tim of the Small Business Big Marketing podcast. They have a 44 minute audio (How To Be Found Online) that explains, simply, why local businesses should have an Effective Website.

They make some interesting points:

  • The website should Presell your products and services, answering questions that customers have in their mind
  • Ensure you have an editable website, the URL structure is indexable, and you can update your own website if at all possible.

For the business with grand plans online, it’s ideal to have a Content Management System (or CMS). That’s why our latest web design clients, all localised businesses, have chosen a custom CMS (WordPress) site. We are even changing our Red Planet Design website to reflect the clean look and easy user interface that WordPress and certain themes provide.

And as for Yellow Pages, the recent downpour wrecked some and others are very handy for propping up the laptop… With print and directory advertising, you have to pay megabucks for the kind of space you need to differentiate you from all the competition. Yellow Pages is a wall of ads, and often people like me access the internet to find some business websites so I can better compare service, prices, testimonials, and guarantees.

Posted by Jennifer at 3:41 pm

Drilling Down on Your Online Competitors

SEO tips, Small Business Brisbane No Responses »
Jan 272011

We’re going to explore today how to drill down on your online SEO competition for local Brisbane businesses. Especially now that we’ve had a tough month with floods and the obvious economic effects even for those not directly affected.

If you want to investigate the undergarments of your online competition, look no further than Yahoo Site Explorer. This handy wee tool shows you incoming links (inlinks) of ANY website.

Success leaves clues. Also bad back-linking leaves clues, so don’t get too confused.

Some blog comments with your signature are propagated through a site, leading to 20 links which only really count for one vote. On forums like meetup.com, you’ll find a similar occurrence. So don’t get too excited by the final number… quality counts.

If you want to recreate someone else’s inlinks, first ensure they know what they are doing, and then ensure that your target keywords are exactly the same. Probably you will want to have your own strategy and use a professional – for about $40 per hour, it could be well worth it.

Next – Gather SEO Competition Data

Anyhow, the next step is to gather your SEO competition data on the top five websites for your niche keyword searches. E.G. For ‘copywriter Brisbane’ results are: heart harmony #1, snappysentences #2, power of words #3  etc… ‘Copywriting Brisbane’ brings up entirely different results.

If I wanted to be absolutely sure of my own placement, I would use Market Samurai and the SEO Competition module. This is because your own computer gets to know your ‘most clicked’ results, so could be showing your website higher than it is to others.

Check Yourself Out – in Google’s SERP

Check how your website looks with “Instant Preview” on the Search Engine Results Page – hit the magnifying glass near the title. Compare your preview to others around it. Compare your title and bolded keywords to others above it. Like when we look in the mirror, we want our listing to appear attractive in every way!

I presume that you already know your top five keyword phrases with the most traffic. No?  Then use Market Samurai or Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find them. (I can also help you with this service if you’re needing to rewrite your website copy anyway).

Please note my upcoming presentation at B2B Brisbane meetup on the topic: Writing Your Way to a Distinctive Online Presence. February 9, at 6:15 pm. If you miss out on the last spot, I may be doing this presentation again in Redcliffe in March or April.

Posted by Jennifer at 2:33 pm Tagged with: , ,

There’s Web Design and There’s Effective Website Design

Website Design No Responses »
Dec 032010

From hearing many different client stories, there seem to be three types of web designers:  ones who want your business, tells you anything, designs the site and whose only interest is to make a profit… leaving you stranded with a quickly outdated and solitary website. Then there are designers who come from a graphic design background, can put together a navigable, nice looking site, but expect you to go elsewhere for search engine optimization, copywriting and the like.

The third kind of web designer/development company takes a brief and wants the client’s website to exceed their expectations and return them a handsome profit… by being found online and being popular with customers. You can probably tell that category is where Red Planet Design is.

To do this, we design the site according to client’s preferences. Once our client is happy, then the coding of the website is done by the top talent in Expression Engine or WordPress, both flexible CMS systems that have their place.

Copywriting to Sell

To top it off, a freelance copywriter (aka your writer here) is put to work in creating or editing all the content and metatags for your new website – in conjunction with the designer. You wouldn’t know how rare this is, because mostly clients don’t realise that copywriting or editing is usually outsourced 90% of the time, if you’re offered that option at all.

It’s plain as day the websites which have employed a professional copywriter and which have cobbled it together themselves, doing an admirable job. Compare this first paragraph for a roof repairer (#1 on Google):

“Our aim is to make your roof repair and gutter replacement needs simple and easy. We do all we can to make your roof restoration as best as possible”, OR  #4 on Google for roof repairs:

“Welcome to Queensland Roof Restorations (QRR)

QRR have 25 years domestic and commercial roofing experience throughout Brisbane suburbs and Ipswich. Re-roofing, roof painting, and roof restoration are all part of QRR’s of the services we provide.”

QRR has put where they are operating, so that is one vital point, and they do list their main services. Crucially their copy lacks a little finesse – note the grammatical error – and a customer-oriented headline. Overall its OK, but is OK going to make your prospect call?

The first paragraph is often shown in the search engine results page… so it’s important to make this the best it can be.

Don’t leave your website to a freelance web developer who is not in tune with the entire sales process, and don’t leave your content in the hands of a keyword junkie (oops I mean SEO professional).

Posted by Jennifer at 3:13 pm Tagged with: , ,

Blogging for Business

Small Business Brisbane, marketing strategies No Responses »
Nov 302010

It may be time to think about blogging for your small or online business. Brisbane-based business owners are naturally skeptical about the need, time, and return on investment that blogging will have.

Having a blog manager and writer can at least remove the concern of time. However, one of our friends in business – Landscapers Greenscene Gardenscope – have managed to write their own geographic-focussed blog (albeit with a landscaper’s English), build their backlinks, and move up the rankings purely through “doing a little bit quite often”.

Others simply cannot afford the time or headspace for blogging, and can’t get their head around social media. Never fear, there are a hundred reasons why a professional blogger can save you time and increase your blog’s profit potential. One of the best reasons is… they keep going when you simply cannot, because their livelihood depends upon it.

Profit potential is the hidden potential that blog traffic will turn into attuned, happy to pay customers – i.e. the best kind.

Today I’ve written up “So You’ve Got a Blog – What Now?”. This two page PDF will walk you through the marketing to-dos, gives you some topic starters, and also includes what your Blog Writer does, if you’re lucky enough to have me on your outsourced team. Call Jen on 07 31030238 for a blog writing quote.

So You’ve Got a Blog – What Now

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 2:28 pm Tagged with: ,

Google Preview and use of Flash

New technology, Website Design No Responses »
Nov 132010

You may have noticed that on November 9, Google  implemented ‘Preview Search’ to let Google searchers have a quick preview of the website’s first page. So now anyone looking for a certain goods (or even web designers in Brisbane) can have the benefit of a ‘quick look’ at the websites offered up merely by hovering over the magnifying glass.

As yet, the Google Preview ignores Flash. And as YouTube uses Flash to work, any videos that search has found won’t show up in the preview. And for those with fancy Flash files on their landing pages, obviously Instant Preview is going to be blank as well, leading the searchers to other website alternatives.

Web Design without Flash

Of course, here at Red Planet Design we’ve long known that pure Flash pages are not great for search engine optimisation, and we discourage use of Splash pages (i.e. the page says loading….). This doesn’t mean you are relegated to a static site, as dynamic elements (e.g. a changing feature image) can be implemented without affecting the page’s visibility in search. See for yourself in this site, where Javascript just changes the header image: http://www.peterjonesconstructions.com.au/

As BigMouthMedia said in their blog post about Previews and Flash:

“it would be advisable to always consider how your website renders without Flash, JavaScript, images or stylesheets, as people browse the web through many media – not just on desktops.”

Good Web Design from Three Perspectives

The new Search Preview tool also has implications for good web design. Brisbane businesses would do well to think about how their present website looks on three levels:

  • The way it looks on common browsers and desktop PCs
  • The way it looks (and works) on mobile smartphones and small devices
  • The way it looks to users in a Google search – including the title, content snippets, and sneak preview

As you use the Preview yourself, you’ll perhaps be more attracted to sites with nice use of colour and layout, as long as it also describes what you were looking for!

Posted by Gino Lancaster at 9:31 am Tagged with: , ,
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