For the past 2 years or so Google has been displaying map listings of businesses relevant to local search phrases.  For example a search for 'mechanic perth' will display a list of 10 mechanics in the Perth metropolitan area in the organic (i.e. the free) search results.

The Google Map section displays businesses that are listed with the Google Local Business Centre, a creation of Google's that makes it one of the most powerful local search tools available.

The benefits of listing a business in the Google Local Business Centre are considerable -

• Search results can contain detailed information about your business, moreso than Yellow Pages, and it's free (click here to see the PositionMEonline listing for 'web design perth'
• Searches conducted on iPhones and other mobile phones with internet browsing technology often display Google Map listings at the very top of the page (on small screens this prominant view makes clicking on the listings quite compelling)
• Google often displays a Google Map in the organic search results when a searcher looks for a product or service by location - i.e. we have some clients who have obtained #1 rankings on Google within 24 hours!
• Searchers using Google Earth have the ability to zoom into the local region and view businesses relevant to their topic of interest

Our client website statistics are showing that Google now has close to 90% market share in Australia.  Obtaining as much visibility on this major search engine is crucial in your online marketing strategy.  PositionMEonline can assist your business with listing on the Google Local Business Centre - call us on (08) 9313 2699 today to find out how.

Despite the financial crisis over the past 18 months many web-related companies have enjoyed strong growth as businesses become more savvy and cost-conscious about their marketing.  With traditional forms of advertising becoming less cost-effective businesses are turning to the internet as a reliable source of low-cost leads.

One particular recent situation stands out, highlighting the major differences in return achieved from traditional advertising when compared with website marketing -

A long-term client shared with us a full page press advertisement that their competitor had run in The West Australian (WA's leading local paper).  The advertisement was on page 48 of the newspaper, just before the stock prices. 

At $7,500 one might think twice about placing such an ad, but the value of this businesses services is such that around 4 new clients would need to be obtained in order to make it a worthwhile venture.

72 hours after running the ad we were told that the business had received 3 phone call enquiries and zero appointments - i.e. the return on investment was practically nil.  It was $7,500 wasted on something that had a shelf life of around 24-48 hours before the next edition of the newspaper was produced.

One might argue that there are other less tangible benefits (such as branding) and that further potential customers may have booked an appointment at a later stage, however the business was not of a substantial enough size to warrant a branding focus.  Hence, the purpose of the ad was to generate appointments, which it clearly failed to do.

What is different about web marketing?
A business that goes about its web strategy correctly will benefit from an asset that continues to generate a good source of leads or sales with minimal ongoing expenditure.

Using the example above, a $7,500 investment in a website that is professionally designed and marketed to be found on the major search engines will continue to reap rewards for many years.

Newspaper advertising, radio advertising, TV advertising and Yellow Pages all require an ongoing investment in order to be given "air time".  By comparison, a websites ongoing costs are generally hosting and domain registration fees (which are easily <$1000 per year).

Think outside the square
Before you invest in your next traditional form of advertising, consider whether that money would be better invested in a website designed specifically to market a particular product. 

Investing in more "salesmen whilst you sleep" will help generate a strong source of leads and sales - why have 1 salesman, when you can have say 3.  Likewise, why have one website trying to capture everything your business is about, when you could have 3 highly specialised websites targeting different divisions/products/services/angles of your business.

To discuss some creative ideas on how you can add more "salesmen whilst you sleep" to your team, call us on (08) 9313 2699 and we can demonstrate how other Australian small-medium businesses are benefiting from our innovative online marketing strategies.

Google has announced they have made a deal with Twitter and will be delivering Tweet feeds in the SERPs.

This is exciting and interesting and it confirms that SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and Social Media are partners in your success.  You shouldn't neglect either!

The search engines favour web pages with history, quality and volumes of information, much the same as the way they treat Social Media posts.  This means having an account with Facebook and Twitter is a must if you want to ride this wave.  

Get as much history in as you can and remember that accounts that have been around longer with more tweet history may fare better. 

Tweet often but keep it natural - and tweet quality.  Tweet when you have something to ask, share or teach. 

Use keywords - but don't stuff your posts full of keywords.  If the tweets are about your industry, you should be using keywords naturally anyway.

Use links in your tweets back to your site (to relevant content on your site) and share the link love - link to other quality sites out there.

Make sure you use your keyword in your bio and if you are just setting up your username, maybe in your username too?  This may or not help.  Again, I must say - do not stuff keywords anywhere - not in tweets, not in your bio, not in your username.

This is a good thing, but if people abuse it and bring the overall quality of Twitter down, we will all be sorry.

If you have a feed that sends your tweets to Facebook, or your Facebook status to Twitter, you may want to consider turning it off.  If you have the same message in both places you are missing an opportunity for Bing to pick up both.  If they are unique, you have 2 chances to get in there!

Swan Valley Tours (www.svtours.com.au), a PositionMEonline client of 5+ years, has won the 'Website and Online Services Award 2009'. 

They were viewed as being at the forefront of their region in utilising contemporary and emerging technologies to support their business, customers, partners and the community.

The criteria used to judge the award included:

• Search Engine Optimisation – the ability to find the site from a search engine
• Intuitiveness of design
• Usability of website layout
• Ease of which an untrained person can access information
• The minimisation  of clicks required to find relevant information – having the right “call to actions” at the right place
• The flow from communication from website to business owner – did the website capture the right information
• The response time from website enquiry to contact with the client
• Links – if they functioned and where relevant  
• Customer feedback  - the site was mystery shopped and points given for the meeting the above criteria

The Swan Valley Tours website is built on the MySuperWeb platform which enables Gregg and his team to manage the website themselves. 

They also take photos of each trip and add them to the website to give their customers a reason to re-visit the website after their tour.  Prior to using MySuperWeb the process of adding photos was time-consuming, particularly given the number of tours and resulting photos.  With MySuperWeb however, this process has been made easier using the Photo Gallery module, which positions and links in the photos in an attractive slide-show-like manner.

The Swan Valley Tours website also ranks #1 on Google for 'wine tour swan valley' and a variety of other relevant, high traffic keywords.

Congratulations to Swan Valley Tours and the team within PositionMEonline who helped build their website.

The majority of mainstream industries are saturated online with an overwhelming number of websites, blogs, portals and online shops. New businesses entering the online world can find it tough to compete against older, more established websites that have greater repour with customers and a longer history with search engines, something the engines now consider relevant when determining a website’s rankings.

Some of the most successful internet-based business are those that identify a niche market based on market or ‘keyword’ research. Businesses in a niche can find it easier to compete because of less competition, and at the same time customers searching for a niche product may be more ready to buy.

For example, a large portion of searchers looking for ‘promotional products’ could be unsure of what to buy and may be looking for ideas. There will be less people searching for a keyword like ‘promotional ball point pens’, but searchers are more likely to be buyers.

Applying this logic to a web-based business means that you should consider identifying a small market niche before attempting to tackle established players in the industry. There are various keyword research tools available online that can identify niche markets. A search for ‘keyword research tool’ on Google will reveal a whole range of useful tools to help with your decision criteria.

Choosing and SEO or Search Engine Marketing company can be difficult.  You may obtain 3 vastly different quotations both in content and in price, and be no wiser as to which company is better than the next.

Fortunately earlier this year the Australian Web Industry Association (AWIA) released a document designed to help website owners decipher the companies that are legit, and the companies that are solely in the industry to trick unsuspecting customers.

The guide is available to download here and is well worth a read should you be looking to engage a SEO or search engine marketing company.

The principles mentioned in the guide are adhered to by PositionMEonline, as our business success is largely defined by the success of our clients.  The more clients we can obtain excellent results for and have lasting relationships with, the better our business becomes, and in turn the better we can serve our clients with new technologies and more 'outside the box' thinking.

To speak with one of our SEO consultants about how you can obtain more customers from the internet call (08) 9313 2699 today!

A domain name is the website address for your business – e.g. www.mybusiness.com.au. Choosing the right domain name is important for a variety of reasons.

The following guide will help keep you on the right path to ensure your select the best website address -

• Keep it short – the longer it is, the harder it will be for potential customers to remember
• Try not to abbreviate – abbreviations don’t mean much to people not in the know
• Choose a .com.au if you have an Australian target market – search engines give preference to .com.au domain names in Australia
• Incorporate relevant keywords – e.g. www.tonyscarparts.com.au to get your website clicked on more often

I often see clients who have purchased hundreds of domain names with the intention of displaying their new website under all of these addresses. This can cause issues with a website’s search engine visibility because the websites will be seen as being duplicates of one another, and may be issued with a ranking penalty.

Registering a few good domain names to keep them from your competitors is acceptable, but ask your website hosting company to point these all back to your main domain name.

We can help you with domain registrations, domain recommendations, and potentially save you some money by pointing you towards inexpensive domain registrars including www.crazydomains.com.au

A big misconception in the industry is that a ‘hit’ on a website equates to having a ‘visitor’. This is not true, yet many organisations like to inflate their marketing hype by claiming their website gets ‘millions of hits’.

A ‘hit’ occurs when a component of a web page is loaded. For example, if a person visits a web page that loads 3 photos, and 6 button icons, this would equate to at least 9 hits (despite being only one visitor). If this person then looked at 5 other pages on the website, this may equate to 50+ hits!

Website statistics programs are now sophisticated enough to know the difference between a hit and a visitor. Essentially, hits don’t matter. Knowing your visitors however will give you a more accurate perspective of how many people are looking at your website.

Google provides one of the world’s best website statistics tool for free – Google Analytics. This tool gives tremendous insight as to how visitors arrive at and react to a website.

Did you know you can get on the first page of Google, Yahoo and MSN within an hour? A form of search engine advertising called ‘pay-per-click’ is sweeping the world as a cost-effective means of obtaining instant visibility across the major search engines.

Compared with traditional forms of advertising, businesses can target customers actively looking for their products or services, and track how they interact with their website once they arrive.

As the name suggests, the advertiser pays the search engine every time someone clicks on their ad. These ads can be targeted geographically, and only appear for keyword searches as specified by the advertiser. A cap can be put on the advertisers daily budget to ensure the costs don’t blow out considerably.

Pay-per-click advertising works best for businesses with websites that are successful in converting their visitors into customers (e.g. florists), or sell items with good profit margins (e.g. cosmetic surgeons). Whilst these advertising campaigns can be set up by anyone, it is best to use someone who is qualified by Google and has had considerable experience in managing these campaigns. The way the campaigns are architected is crucial to achieving a good return on investment.

We have had numerous clients approach us with Google AdWords accounts that they set up themselves, wasting tens of thousands of dollars because they were not architected correctly.

I am astounded to see that some of Perth’s major educational institutions are teaching students how to build websites with considerable amounts of graphics, animations, and very little content. As these students graduate, they set up their own businesses and sell their services to the WA business community who are taken in by the stunning ‘look’ of what they can produce.

Our business, PositionMEonline, and other web marketing companies of a professional ilk are unfortunately left to break the news to these business owners that their websites will be difficult to find on search engines. The search engines thrive on text content, not images or animations, meaning that many WA websites are missing out on new customers who use generic search phrases to find information online.

Businesses in the market for a new website should always ask how their web designer intends on getting visitors to their new website. Remember, marketing a website is more important than simply building one.