Internet marketing for Small businesses – The most important thing you need to get higher ranking in Google.

I recently did the first round of link-building for a client. I used a variety of different marketing outlets – articles, RSS feeds, directories and a few others too.  I sent them the reports showing where the material had been submitted. And then got an email saying they had checked a good proportion of the sites but there was nothing there.  Nor had they seen anything on their Google Alerts either.  So, was the exercise worthwhile was their question?

This is a very common situation when people expect to see “a result” and want something for their money.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way with Google.  Probably the most important thing you can have when doing SEO or search engine optimisation on your site isn’t a deep knowledge of Google, link building, super secret places to get high value links or any other technical skill.

Not, it’s patience. Here’s why.

Human not robot approval
Some SEOs use fully automated tools to generate links.  These are fast but rubbish.  Make sure The submission sites I use are human moderated. That means a couple of things:
•    The submissions may not be accepted.
•    Those that are accepted will take a while to be put on the sites.
The frustration doesn’t stop there though.
•    It can take months for the search engines (SEs) to index the links.
•    Not all links are indexed and reported by the search engines.
I know this from my own experience.
I have links to my site from my own blogs so I know they have been created. Some were put up 6 months ago and they are still not showing in Google or Yahoo link checker.  But I can see them when I go to the actual blogs and other websites. I can click them and they work. SO just relying on link reports isn’t giving the full picture.

That is one reason why SEO is a numbers game – to some extent.

But it can get worse still.

Up and down like a violinist’s elbow
There’s a phenomenon called The Google Dance.  You do some SEO and see your site rise – yippee! But then your site falls again.  That’s even more frustrating.

What’s that all about huh?

It’s Google reassessing the new content on your site and the additional links coming in.  It’s seeing where it thinks your site deserves to be based on the activity so far.

They key is to keep submitting over time and there will be a cumulative effect but the result is nothing that anyone can control. The only thing you can control is the diligence to keep adding
more links – the right type and the right places.

There’s more to life than search engines
Another aspect is that link building isn’t just for SEs. It’s for real people. So having your content in more places where there’s more chance of more people finding it is the key factor.

It’s also important to realise that Google is generally the entry point to the Web for most people. Once past Google they go all over the place looking for what they are after.  Just think how you surf around from page to page and site to site.

So if someone goes to look for an article on a topic for their newsletter they may go to a number of article sites.  Once in a site they will probably look at a number of different articles.

But then they may then go to a different article site and look at yet more articles.

Have faith brother
So, SEO is  often a leap of faith in the beginning.  There are few obvious results to start with which is why the on-page is important to do to give a short-term boost. And then to keep plugging away at making regular submissions using
•    different anchor text,
•    different submission services
•    different media
•    different target pages in your site
•    different target keywords
By making a mixture it looks more natural to Google rather than a concerted effort to beat their system.

So for better Google results:

• Be sensible.
• Be consistent.
• Above all be patient

It comes down to a misunderstanding of the needs of marketing on the Internet.

People are fed the idea that by simply putting up a website, all of their marketing problems are over.  They can sit back and enjoy a steady stream of new prospects and customers but actually, successful marketing online demands an even greater effort and time than traditional marketing.

The problems start with the web design sales people who rarely explain, if hey themselves even know, what is truly involved in getting a website higher on Google.

Their function is to sell a website whereas it should be to help the client market their business better.

That might involve a website for sure but for most small businesses a big-project (read big expense) website is totally unnecessary.

The majority of the on-line marketing budget should go to ……errm marketing online.

An online marketing strategy will include market and keyword research as the first stage.

This will identify what your prospects are actually looking for.

How many times a month hey are looking for it.

Then the strength and extent of your competition.

Unless you know those three key aspects, your website is doomed to fail.

The second problem is that business owners think that once the sit is live, then the work is done.

Unfortunately, Google likes to see regular new additions to your site.  They take the view that market s are always changing so those local business owners who take the time and invest in educating their prospects, deserve to be rewarded with better rankings and getting higher in Google.

The third critical aspect is building links from other sites back to your website.  This is vital and it’s important to get the right type of link too.  For more information on links, you might find this useful – an item all about link building.

http://www.squidoo.com/seo-consultant-in-auckland-pt-4-back-links-the-most-important-part

What has all of this got to do with a car?

When you buy a car, you don’t simply drive it off the car-yard and expect that it’s going to stay that shiny, fresh and full of gas for the rest of its life.

• You clean it regularly which is like adding new content to keep you website fresh.
• You give it fuel which is adding back-links to your site because a good linking strategy provides a fuel injection of visitors.
• You service your car which is like looking at the analytics or visitor data so you can improve the performance of your site.

The fuel is the most expensive part of running your car and it’s also the one thing that you cannot provide yourself.  You have to rely on the petrol companies to source the oil, process it and then send it to your local gas station.  And so it is with link building.

You could do it yourself but it’s difficult, hard, time-consuming and requires specialist knowledge to do well.  You are best advised to engage an SEO consultant for this essential aspect of your website’s well being. It’s money well spent.

Technorati Tags: 5S SEO, Search engine optimization, seo consultant

I thought the response would be helpful to other people:

“I would add too that it can be unwise to ignore low PR links for a number of reasons.

1 SEO’s main objective is to get your site in front of relevant eyes. It’s not just being higher in Google. Google is the usual entry point for folks to the ‘Net. Once past The Big G, they go all over the place which is why you need to be in loads of places, not just a single high PR place.

2 The second point is that relying on a few high PR links is a risky business. What happens if the go away? Your platform just got a bit thin. So a broad range of links makes your business more secure.

3 A broad range also looks more natural to Google rather than purely focusing on high PR sites.

4 Another key factor is where those links go to, besides how they link to you. Keywords as anchor text are vital but again, it’s a range of keywords that’s important, and, the target page within the site. Aim for a broad spread of links into your site with a range of keywords. Again it’s more natural because not everyone uses the same search phrase. For example, there are at least seven ways to use panel beater for car body repairs. Same meaning, just different words for different people. And your site needs to be using all of those search phrases.

5 Finally, it’s not only about your site. For long-term strength and business building, you want to be able to control links as well as create them. Most people look at link-building as finding places to link to. That is important as I’ve covered above but there are other strategies too that can be even stronger and longer lived, give you more flexibility and enable you to be very tightly focused in your promotions. This is a marketing approach rather than purely link-building in a technical SEO sense. But as Google makes life easier for their customers (searchers), they inevitably become more market-focused and so should you. Simply if it’s good for the customer it’s good for Google.”

The original question is here if you want to read some other interesting answers:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=21005&type=member&item=30572825&qid=526f04ff-99b1-478d-a5f1-2e6c9af330e9&goback=.gmp_21005

Technorati Tags: 5S SEO, Search engine optimization, SEO

The April edition of NZ Business magazine has an article discussing some of the issues that business owners face regarding their website designs.

NZ Business magazine including my article on SEO

I hope plenty of people read it as it can help so many business owners and managers

to get better results from their marketing budgets.

I see so many people led up the garden path by so-called web experts and designers

who convince people that they need flashy designs on one hand and can “guarantee” top Google rankings on the other.  It really annoys me when people “mis-lead” clients that way.

Technorati Tags: Search engine optimisation, Search engine optimization, SEO, Website design

Or maybe you get one-time customers but little repeat business.

Or worse still, your phone never rings.

Yet you deeply believe your product or service is just what other companies need.

So what went wrong? Where is your steady stream of clients?
Most businesses struggle to thrive or even fail because they don’t conduct market research before they open, to see if there is a demand for two things:-

1.    their service or
2.    their positioning – how they differentiate themselves from everyone else

They rely on their belief rather than fact or testing the market.

Why don’t more people do it?
One reason is that people just don’t think about doing it.

Another is that market research is notoriously difficult to get any meaningful output.  There are many reasons such as:

•    the difficulty of finding willing respondents in the first place.
•    getting “sensible” answers from them.
•    and finally, being able to believe what they say. Often people will say what they think you want to hear.

Simply put, you cannot rely on what your customers say.

The only reliable source of the truth is what people do.

And there’s one place where people freely and consistently tell you what they want by their actions.

Google.

When people type into Google for business services or products, it’s not to while away an idle half hour or, out of curiosity, to see what the local plumbers are up to on their websites. (Well some of us do but we have our own special peculiarities).
No, people go there to find immediate providers or at least to research potential providers.

Even on social media not all people say what they really think.  Certainly a lot tell their truth but for some it’s a game.  For others, they say what they think is cool. And for more, they don’t want to be seen in public.

But Google gives them privacy and information without being hassled by sales people.  Your prospects feel safe using Google.

The only source of your customers’ truth
So, to increase your chances of success, or rather to reduce your chances of failure, redefine yourself and your business based on what people are typing into Google for your broad category.

You can then drill-down to find more detailed data and then use those Search-terms on your website.

And here’s a big tip.

Don’t forget to use those terms in your off-line communications as well.  People will recognise their words and feel more connected to you as a result.

Rename your offering from the bland “Services” that everyone else uses to match the best Search-term you can find.

For example, in the tree-maintenance industry, instead of crown-lifting, use tree pruning.

Treat your business to the best investment you will ever make

Go to Google’s Keyword Research Tool It’s free.

Find out what words people are really using to describe your business.  You’ll find loads of data. And then use those words on your website.

Learning what it all means and how to use it will be the best day’s work you can do.

But then I would say that wouldn’t I, as an SEO guy.

But it really is the best research tool you can find.

Or, if that all sounds too complicated, ask an expert to do it for you to turn all that data into useful information.

Email me at Andrew@gigmarketing.biz for a no obligation, fixed-price quotation to find out what your market is really looking for.

Technorati Tags: local marketing, Search engine optimization, SEO

Think back over the last week about when you’ve been driving around your city.  I live in Auckland, New Zealand but this applies to any city in the world.

How many vans have you seen for plumbers or electricans or any other service for that matter?

Chances are you’ve seen 2 or 3. Maybe more, maybe less but around that number

Now, how many of those can you remember the name of the company?

And even more importantly, how many did you get on the phone and say, “I want you to come and …..” whatever service they provide.

I expect you can’t remember a single one and I’m positive that you didn’t call any of them.

“Hi, I’m in the car behind you.  I’ve been cruising round town looking for a plumber’s van and you’ve saved my bacon.  We’ve got a burst pipe, water flooding everywhere, carpets are ruined…..” It just isn’t going to happen is it?

Yet so many businesses use van livery as a key component in their marketing but as we’ve just seen, it’s completely untargeted, un-noticed and is rarely anywhere near the point of purchase.

And the same is true of many other offline marketing tactics too. Like magazine ads, newspapers, radio etc.  They have a very short life and it’s very unlikely that you have an immediate need of those products at the moment that you might possibly see the ad.

Which is why the media owners and your marketing agency say you have to have a campaign that repeats and reinforces your message. Oh, and keep re-paying for.

Yet when people go to Google, they are actively looking for products or services.

Can you imagine sitting down on a rainy afternoon wondering what to do.  “Ah, I know. I’ll fire up my computer and casually browse for a lawyer, a bookkeeper or an insurance agent.” Again, it’s just not going to happen. People only look for those businesses or more precisely, those websites, when they have a specific need .

And, if you want to be one of those companies people are ready to spend money with, you have to be easy to find, which means being high in Google.

Do you really have to be high in Google?

You decide when you see these stats.

・    60% of local business purchases start with a Google search
・    89% of people only use Page 1 of Google.

So if you aren’t on Page 1, your chances of missing out on those local dollars are worryingly high.

Yet it is relatively easy for most local businesses to be among those at the top of the pile.

The process of rising in Google is SEO or search engine optimization and, because most sites are badly optimized, it’s not difficult to zoom past your competitors to boost your rankings.  The change can be almost overnight for some Search-terms.

For many who decide to do SEO, they want it all and go for the Search-terms with the big traffic volume figuring more searches equals more traffic equals more sales enquiries.

Ehh aghh.

The secret to top Google rankings is to find the Search-terms with low competition.

These probably have less search volume but what would you rather have?

Busting a gut and blow tons of dollars going for a phrase with 200 searches a day but struggling to get off Page 2.  Or ten Search-terms with only 20 searches each per day and being top dog for each one?

A no-brainer huh?

The same number of searches but you are Number 1 ten times instead of number 15 once.  Of course, yo may not get Number 1 each time, but you get the point.

So, to get those local dollars into your bank account do these three things:
・    quit wasting your money on short-life, un-targeted, un-noticed media,
・    divert it to improving your Google ranking.
・    ignore the macho big keywords and target the easy pickings in the low volume Search-phrases.

Want some help?

Drop me a line and I’ll talk you through it.

Best

Andy Haddleton

Technorati Tags: Auckland, local marketing, Search engine optimization, SEO

Many website owners are confused because they thought that having a site would mean they automatically got placed high in Google.

And most are still wondering where is that extra business that they were led to believe would appear once they had a website.

It’s all very frustrating for business owners, especially in these tight economic times.

And if you knew how essential Google is to your business success, you would be horrified.

How significant is a top place in Google?
Imagine what you do when you are looking for a new product or service provider.  Chances are you go to Google like most people do.

•    81% of potential customers go on-line to find out more about a business. (Neilson_online.com)

•    85% of websites are found by search engines rather than being typed into the address bar.  So if you think people know your name or web address, that’s a dangerous assumption.

•    91% of people only use Page 1 (google.com) so if you are on Page 3, you may as well not have a website.

•    42% of clicks go to Number 1 (google.com) so even being on Page 1 doesn’t help you much. 10th position gets less than 3% of clicks.

•    “Small businesses who use the Internet have grown 46% faster than those that do not”. (International Business Journal)

Yet few people know how to get up there and worse, they are sold websites that have no chance of being ranked high in Google

Yet it needn’t be that way.  There are 3 simple steps to getting high in Google but very few web-designers use them, leaving site owners high-and-dry or is that low-and-wet?

What gets a website high in Google?
It’s helpful to think what Google’s primary service aim is.

To deliver the best product (a search result) to their customer (a searcher).

That’s it.

There’s lots of technical stuff behind that but if you want your site to be ranked higher by Google, just give your customers the best match to their searches.

That means if your Home page says, “Welcome to our site. We’ve been in business for…and have .. employees” that’s why your site is low.

The technical term for the getting higher in Google is Search Engine Optimisation or SEO but I like to think of it as a translation service – translating what you, the expert, knows, into what your customer wants..

You might think you know what people are searching for.  After all, how difficult is it to describe your business?

You’d be surprised.  Most clients are amazed at how many variations of their business people use.  Some examples of different Search-terms people have used for the same industry.

•    Business consultant and business consultants.
•    Book-keeper and bookkeeper.
•    Event manager, events manager, event management.
•    Panel beaters, panelbeaters, panel beater, panel beating, smash repair.
•    Tree surgeon, arborist, tree services, tree pruning.

Clients haven’t included all of these different Search-terms on their websites. And, in most cases, they have been using the wrong Search-terms.

What makes a wrong Search-term? Each of those phrases has a different quantity of searches and different numbers of competing pages. And more competition means it’s harder to get to the top.

The key to success is finding the combination of reasonable traffic with less competition.

So now you know your site needs to match what people are searching for, how do you find out what they are typing, how many people are searching for them and how much competition you might have?

The three steps are….
First, learn to speak your customers’ language.

Google actually tells you what people are typing in their Keyword Search Tool. It’s free to use but, as with most things free, it comes at a price….. understanding what it all means.  And there is a ton of data there to learn.

Frankly, many people who regularly use the data, don’t use it properly.  That’s why so few websites make it to the top.

Second, use that language everywhere, even off-line.  After all, it’s what your customers are saying when they think of your business or service.

For your website, it’s essential to use that right language in the right places in the right way.  Again, very few web-masters or designers know what or how to use it.

Third, don’t rely on a sexy web-design to get you top rankings.

Google doesn’t care what shade of red you have, where the images are or whose face is in the picture.  It only cares how close your words are to the searcher’s.

So make your first priority finding out what people are looking for rather than spending your dollars on a design which people will never find.

Make SEO the foundation of your site, not an afterthought.

Bill Gates said, “In the future there will be two types of businesses. Those on the Internet and those out of business.”

It’s safe to amend that to those on Page 1 of Google and those out of business.

Technorati Tags: 5S SEO, Search engine optimization, SEO

As an SEO guy, I look at myself as a translator… translating the language of the expert (business owner) into the language of the customer. And then using that language on the web pages. Those pages should be very specific so that searchers can find the answer quickly.

The only way to achieve this is to do a Search-term assessment exercise. I call it the STACA – Search-term, Traffic and Competition Analysis.

This shows the site owner the number of searches for each term but crucially for them, the level of competition that they can expect. That way we can target lower competition Search-terms which will get ranked faster than those with more competing pages.

This STACA has another massive benefit. It becomes the centre point to your whole business and marketing planning.

Why?

Because a good business plan is written around a solid market research exercise.

There are two main problems with any market research project:

•    Response and
•    Bias

Getting people to respond in suitable numbers, especially if your budget is limited, is a real headache.  How can you find people.  Where are they?  How can you get them to participate?  And many other questions too.

And however, well phrased the research questions, there is always an element of bias.  People will feel that you want a particular answer or they feel obliged in someway.  And the results are clear in the number of new products that don’t make the grade, sales profits.

So what better market research than the exact words your customers are typing into Google when they are eager to spend money.

It simply couldn’t be better research material.
You can use those exact terms in all of your marketing messages then – off-line too.

By finding out exactly what people want I’ve helped companies go from the obscurity of Page 4 to over 30 different Page 1 results.

They may be very small search volumes but when added together they come close to the big 600 pound gorilla terms they were failing to rank for previously.
That’s much better business for them and…… far better for the customer too as they can easily find what they want.

In business you will always fail if you don’t find out what your market wants.
Using good keyword tools, the market tells you what they want.

And for the local businesses or local branches of big businesses, t’s important to understand that around 60% of significant local purchases start with a Google search.

Finally, most people get the web process the wrong way round.

They spend hours and $000s agonising over the shade of a colour, the position of an image, what’s on the image. Then tack on keyword research and SEO if there’s any budget left. None of that is relevant to Google. None of that will get you ranked.

What will get you ranked and found is using the right Search-terms in the right places.

And it will help you write your marketing plan too.

Technorati Tags: 5S SEO, Market research, new zealand marketing, SEO

How Much Money Are You Losing Because Customers Can’t Find Your Website?

When people look in Google for a local service provider like yours, it’s because they have a real need and they want it sorted.  And the exciting thing is, they are willing to spend money to do it.

The big question is?

Where will they spend the money?

The answer is with a company on Page 1 of Google, and in all probability, the one nearest the top.  Is that you or is it a competitor that will be getting their money? (No.1 gets 41.2% of clicks).

“But it’s not like that in my industry”
Imagine when you want to find a supplier? A plumber, an accountant, an air-con guy, whatever?

What do you do?

• You go to Google to look for a local supplier – like 80% of people do
• You are busy so you only look at Page 1 – like 94% of people
• You click on the top website that looks promising – like 41% of people
• You have a very quick look at the site and if it says “Welcome to our site. We give great service, we’ve been in business…..” you click away and go to find the next site – like 97% of people
• You look for a site that tells you straightaway what you want – like 85% of people
• You give them a call or send an email – like 60% of people

Yes, over 60% of searches for local businesses end up in a sale… with the websites that are the easiest and quickest to find.

And guess what? The people with money to spend on your industry do exactly the same.

“But my website comes up in Google”
If you think typing your website address in Google means you are found, that’s a very costly mistake.  Only 15% of websites are found by typing in the address.

For the other 85%, people type in phrases related to your service.  Usually they type in a problem they have not the solution they want. For example, how to stop a leaking tap

People search using many different variations of the service you provide. Your site must use those Search-terms, the layman’s terms, not the expert’s. or you have no chance of being found.

The next question.
How do you know what words people use when they search?

You can use this free tool in Google  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Then

• Learn what it all means.
• Understand it.
• Workout how to use it.
• Find out how much competition you have for each Search-term.
• Decide which is the best combination of search volume and competition.
• Find out what to put on your website and where.
• Write the right type of pages that will be found.
• Check if you’ve got it all right.
• Do it again until you get it right.

Or…….

To save you time and get Page 1 results like many other businesses already have, you can:

Click here to find out how you can get onto Page 1 of Google or
Emailandrew@gigmarketing.biz or
Call (0064) 021 458089 for a complimentary 30-minute consultation to show you how to get among the spenders.

Can you afford not to?

Technorati Tags: 5S SEO, Search engine optimization, SEO

Please click the title to access the link.

Paula had a series of interviews for Operation Lead Gen grilling experts in different methods.

She interviewed me for the SEO strategies.

Go here for the link.

SEO Strategies by Andrew Haddleton

Technorati Tags: Search engine optimization, SEO