My partner, Susie and I had to move – our landlord had decided to sell.   We could have waited until after Christmas to begin the search for our new home but decided to explore the options.  Our list of needs and wants meant we had a limited choice of places and so when one came available we made a decision and got on with it.

It is very different from anything either of us has lived in, quite modern, in a cul-de-sac and very suburban, so we wondered if we were doing the right thing. But we decided that it wasn’t the end of the world even if we didn’t like the place. We could always do something else if it didn’t work out.

We both decided to be rigorous with what we kept or rather, what we discarded.  We had both been carrying some “stuff” for a few years that no longer served us.  For me it was old papers, presentations I’d given, Internet marketing seminars around the world I attended and other stuff which was “leading edge” when I first came across them ten years ago. (I’ve always been into exploring new ideas).

For Susie it was clothes and her “foo-foo” stuff as she calls it.   She loves to fossick in recycle stores for clothes, furniture and nick-nacks.  I have to say, she is very good at it and has furnished most our house that way and receives loads of compliments on her style. So for her to part with some of these possessions was a hard decision.  My daughter, Billie, forced Susie into even more discard choices with her clothes  – “Have you worn that in the last six months?” “No.” Out it goes.

There are a few cool things about giving these clothes and ornaments back to the recycle shops.
•    We de-clutter and create more space in our lives
•    Other people get the chance to rummage and find bargains
•    The charity shops get some more revenue.

The sorting and packing was plenty of work –but we broke it down into manageable amounts each evening so we could see progress but also move forward at a good pace.

I then approached furniture removals companies that were on lower pages of Google and offered them a contra deal – I’d optimise their site if they did my move.  And that was an interesting exercise as most thought it was a scam or too good to be true. One guy though, Paul, who is spending significant amounts on Adwords each month immediately saw the benefit to him and went for it, especially when I showed him how the new Google map scrolls down over his adverts! So we got to move for free and he saves $$$.  Plus, when he arrived with his team, he had a hot SEO lead for me. 

Once we got to the new house, Susie had a brain wave about changing the master bedroom for the office.  This meant the office was on the ground floor and close to the rest of the living space so I can remain “connected” with the rest of the family instead of being stuck upstairs.. This one small change has made the house even better suited to us and our life.

Then more, swift, focused hard work with unpacking and placing belongings in their new places.  And already the house looks like we’ve been here for ages.

Some added bonuses are a super friendly dog the children play with (in fact he just walked past my door as I typed this), cats my daughter loves and my son Joe has rediscovered riding his bike.

The result?

Within 3 weeks from the initial idea, we were settled in a new place which is ideal for us at this stage of our life
We are carrying much less baggage and
My children have new buddies to play with

Lessons to apply in your business

• If you have an idea or desire to do something but are unsure of the outcome, start on it immediately.
• Precisely define what you want.
• Research quickly.
• Don’t hold onto preconceived ideas, they are probably wrong.
• Have a plan and make it manageable.
• Be creative like using your services in exchange for what you want.
• Be bold in your decision making.
• Act fast knowing you can change if it’s not what you want.
• Small changes can produce huge benefits.
• Be flexible and willing to change quickly.
• You never know what other benefits you will get by making decisions and taking action.

So what marketing plan have you been putting off in your business?
•    A promotion to your customers?
•    Optimising your website so people can find it easier in Google?
•    An on-line promotion for Christmas perhaps?

Whatever it is, decide to do it or get outside help to make it happen.  And with the holiday spending season fast approaching, you could receive a nice windfall.

Technorati Tags: local marketing, Search engine optimisation, Search engine optimization, Small business marketing

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

That’s a time-tested and proven tactic but you need to use it with care and thought.

He used the example of “How to be better at time management aimed at busy execs.”

There;s definitely a need for that but almost by default, your target market isn’t going to bother looking at your lovingly crafted report simply because they are too busy.

And in all probability they aren’t going to be looking for time management stuff either – they are running around like headless chickens.

So you need to make your training available in places they may be scratching around being super-busy, getting nothing done – like industry forums or blogs.

You also need to make it resonate with them so instead of Time management for busy execs” call it “How to get your life back for execs who don’t see their family.”  That kinda thing.

What’s all that got to do with SEO?

Loads ‘cos SEO isn’t just getting higher in Google.  The real aim of SEO is to get more visitors to your site and they can come from a huge range of places, not just Google. And you need to have your “lead magnets” in lots of less obvious places too.

Go here for more search engine optimisation tips and  SEO marketing

Technorati Tags: Internet marketing, Search engine optimization, SEO

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

This was good news for those entrepreneurs who could see the opportunities and took advantage of them.

Not so good for those that didn’t either see them or especially not act on them.

Fast forward ten years or so and over 50% of businesses still don’t have a website.

So were they wise not to leap headlong onto the Web?

Not really because they are still small businesses.  They haven’t grown. Because that’s where prospects go to look for new suppliers.

Plus, many of those local business now suffer from price pressure from “foreign” suppliers.  (Foreign can be the next town or state for traditional businesses).

They have lost hordes of customers and have seen new suppliers come into the market.

All-in-all, life is certainly tougher for those local companies that didn’t grasp the opportunities that the Internet provided.

How has history turned against your local business?
But now, in 2010 there is an ironic twist in fortunes for smart business owners and managers.

The vast majority of those companies that had a website put up in 2000 or even 2005 have done very little to them since then.  Their websites area as fresh as the day they were put up.  They’ve gathered digital dust and let’s face it, most of them look it.

•    They were built with very little understanding of what makes a website successful.

•    Most have little or no marketing and selling from the site.

•    There are few sites built so that Google will offer them as a credible answer to prospects’ problems.

•    And less than half of one percent of local companies uses the full range of Internet marketing capabilities.

For those companies that do any marketing, most still rely on newspapers, Yellow Pages and other traditional marketing tools.

But you know they don’t work like they used to do they? In March, the Advertising Association in NZ announced that ad spend had dropped 11.9%with newspapers losing over 13% of its revenue.  The numbers are worse in other countries.
So smart marketers realise that too.

Is there any hope for your business?
There quick answer is “Yes.”

The Internet.

It’s under-used by over 90% of businesses which means if you decide to grasp the opportunities, you will be miles ahead of your competitors how either can’t make a decision or who stick with what they know.

Plus it’s easy and very cost-effective.

And there are so many different ways to use the Internet.  It’s not just putting up a website.
I can think of 27 different marketing techniques that local companies could use.

That ironic twist?
Well, those business that have suffered from those “foreign” and new suppliers could, if they were smart and grasp any one of those 27 marketing techniques, they could out perform their competitors with ease by using the very platform that squeezed their business in the past.

Technorati Tags: local marketing, Marketing, Search engine optimization, Small business marketing

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

You see a set of curtains that you like.

You love the colours so much that you decide to build a home around them.  You call in an interior designer and get him to build the home.

Inevitably the building doesn’t work efficiently or effectively as a home.  The plumbing might not work.  The electrics, the position of the doors, the construction timbers might not be as strong as they should be. The house probably wouldn’t pass certification by your local council.

So you have to call in an architect and then a builder to remodel the house so that it meets the demands of the family using it.

Obviously no sensible person would begin to even think about building a home around a set of curtains because they like the colour.

Yet that is how 99% of people go about building their website.

•    They have a corporate colour or logo that they want their site to match.
•    Then they call in an interior designer to design the look of the site.
•    Then the designer builds the site.
•    And it almost inevitably does not work for those who want to use it… searchers.
•    So then they decide to cal in an architect to fix the problem.

The architect is an SEO guy.  Not a technical one, that’s a civil engineer but an architect who researches and understands what works from a usability or market point of view.

Before you even begin to discuss the layout of your website with your web-designer, find out what our potential customers want and the build your site around that.

And just like the house, designing, building and decorating, are entirely different skills.  You wouldn’t ask your interior designer to design your house so don’t ask your web-designer to design the structure of your website.

The term web-designer can mislead many people because of the “design” element in the term but it’s no different from the design word in interior-designer.

Now you may have your interior designer acting as project manager for building your home.  That’s fine because they would consciously employ an architect and builder, plumber, electrician etc.

So don’t overload your web-designer with tasks that they aren’t experienced in undertaking.  It’s not fair on them and, as helpful people, they will often agree to do the SEO for you.  Yet for both you and your web-designer, you will both end up with a below par website.

To demonstrate the point, how many clients’ websites do you see on Page 1 of Google?  Very few.

2 or perhaps 3 for most searches.

You’ll see directories, recruitment sites, education courses and wikis taking up most of the Top 10 sites.  In many industries, they take up Page 2 and 3 as well.

The reason is that those sites, which are built by web-designers, aren’t optimised to appear on Page 1.  So if your web-designer says they know and can do SEO, ask them how many of their clients are on Page 1 of Google.

To be fair, I don’t have a clue about creating a design for a web-site.  I know my limitations. Make sure the service providers you employ are honest about their limitations.

Everyone will produce a better result that way.

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