Google announced this week that they are changing the way they work out your quality score. This is part of the algorithm thatworks out how much to charge you per click, and what position to place your advert.
Google are taking more interest in the quality of the landing page that each advert is linked to, and adjusting your quality score accordingly. This will directly affect the position of your advert in Google, and therefore, the costs.
The best thing to do is to ensure your keywords are closely related to the associated landing page. This is what all good Adwords managers figured out a long time ago, it is just that now, Google are giving it even more importance.
If you would like us to review your Adwords or other pay-per-click campaigns, call our office on 1300 794 770.
It drives me crazy reading adverts for ‘$1000- websites’ that you can do easily your self. They fail to mention that it is only easy if you know what you are doing, and they fail to mention the time it takes to learn the systems, not to mention all the jargon and different things you need to learn!
It is like saying ‘it’s easy to be a successful business owner’ it is not. It takes time, dedication and experience to be successful, and websites are just the same.
Recognising the reality that getting great results online requires experience, we take time to explain what you need to know and teach you the tools so that you can run your online business. We offer on-going services to support you in learning to run your online business and can take the stress out of starting out online.
Receptive Technologies service delivery process;
It is not really a trade secret to share with you the process we use to help our clients actually enjoy working with us. (enjoyment is up to the client, we just provide the framework ;-)
Step 1, Understanding your Business.
While many websites look the same, it is in the detail that we find that no two businesses are identical. We start by ensuring that we know enough about your business to be able to present you to the world with the right blend of familiarity and stand out.
Step 2, Complete your Plan
Treating your website like a bricks-and-mortar shop is a great way to check that you have taken all the right steps. You wouldn’t open a store without a plan on how to sell, how to display your stock, as well as understanding your local area. We understand the online area, and can create a plan for your online business.
Step 3, Design your site
Presentation is very important. Online, you don’t have window cleaners, vacuuming, dusting or window displays, but the efforts required are the same, images, design, layout and up-selling are vital to a successful online business.
Step 4, Building and Testing
Based on your plan and design, we use the latest tools from Adobe to create the system to manage your online business. We then test each aspect of your site to check it works as planned.
Step 5, Training and Support
First we teach you how to use your site to process the orders, make changes and send newsletters. Then we can help you to implement the plan for creating new customers, marketing and evolving your site.
I occasionally get asked how Google does what it does. this video explains it very succinctly with only a small amount of jargon. the Video is published by Google themselves and I love both the simplicity of what they are saying, as well as the way they deliver the information.
Video, with interaction of graphics is probably the next direction for video on the web. I expect to see more and more of it over the next few years.
Twice in the last week I have had clients ask about doing paid advertising on the internet. One was for Facebook, the other for Google Adwords. I also had someone ask if doing SEO was worth $2000 per month.
Anyway, I figured you might also be wondering about this, so here is a version of my reply;
Online advertising is like any marketing. I could go and put an advert in the classifieds that reads: "Web design 0410123123" and I might get a call. (I know, I could jazz it up and write a great advert, but stick with me here) Alternatively, if I had a strategy that, with research, found that my audience is reading one trade magazine, then I come up with a plan to test 4 different adverts over 4 months, that each have a specific, measureable call to action path, then I am going to get a better result.
Classifieds are the same with trying adwords, Facebook, banners or even SEO on their own. Unless it is planned and there is a path that you are taking a prospect, then you are less likely to see great results, or your results are going to be intermittent.
A rough guide to what will work for many businesses is this:
Start with the website - ensure it is designed to sell* and capture email addresses. Know the outcome you want for each visitor.
Do some research to ensure your audience is looking for you/your service or product. (If they are not, then we have to get creative.)
Design some targeted landing pages (A landing page is like a home page, but for one type of audience/product mix)
Start with an Adwords campaign perhaps with someone like Reachlocal, or do it yourself at Google Adwords. Ensure you are pointing visitors to the landing pages only that are specific to each search phrase.
Measure Everything. Change and test the calls to action in the advertisement, the landing pages, and any other page or email you send your client.
Check you are measuring everything then double check you are measuring everything.
After 2-6 months you should be certain that you have a clear list of search phrases that are resulting in sales - not just clicks. Don't stop testing, but expand and build other funnels of marketing.
You are now armed and dangerous. You can see clearly the words that are producing sales, so you now have the best tools for SEO, Banner advertising, and any other type of targeted advertising.
The next step is to begin honing your site to focus on the search phrases that produce sales. Usually done with SEO techniques - which are a whole different topic.
*For the purpose of this article, 'Selling' or 'sales' is whatever the result is that you wanted for your visitor, which may be contacting you, sending a message or filling a form.
Well, another week floats by. It's Friday, two weeks before Christmas and it seems like only a few weeks ago I was celebrating last Christmas. We've had a wild ride this year. Turnover is up but activity seems to have increased disproportionally, although that could have been the result of life changes too.
I am looking forward to another addition to our team coming soon. I'm interviewing at the moment and the quality of candidates is fantastic. The plan being that they will help to ensure our clients get faster response times to emails and phone calls, and also means that I can spend more time with you, our clients.
Being the end of year, have you booked time out with yourself to review what you have achieved, what worked well this year and what you want to do differently next year? Maybe it is time to review what is possible online, what is possible for an online business and think about how could that work for you. If your website was a 'bricks and mortar' shop front of your business, what does it say to the world as the walk by? Do you have a brochure that has incorrect or out of date information? Or is it an 'all singing, all dancing' 24 hour sales representative for you and your business?
Does your site:
Grab the visitors attention quickly
Say how you care for your client
Provide an action for them to take NOW
Give the visitor options - are there too many options?
Can they find the information they want quickly
Is it time to consider Social networking? Do you need some education about where to take your online Business?
Of course, any of these things we can help you with, you only need to ask
My website is running but I get hardly any visitors!
What Next?
I just completed my website, but no one knows about it!
What Next?
Ok, So you’ve had a website for a while. We are going to presume at this point that you have the design elements sorted out, so no visitor can get lost and every visitor wants to buy. Maybe not everyone, but you know your site works. If not, you may need to take a step backwards, and employ and website specialist to fix this step first.
The basics are: you have two very specific goals that are what YOU want. These do not include “to provide information” That is a given, and if you don’t do that you should not have a website. These goals need to be related to you or your business. “Selling something” is a great goal, “Contacting Me” could be more appropriate for a service based business. “Sign-up for Newsletter” is often a great secondary goal. How you go about achieving this on your website is the topic of a whole different article. Today, we are all about setting a plan for getting the world to visit you.
First; Arm your self with Statistics
Statistic: If you don’t know where you are you can’t know where you have come from. So we need to find you on the web right now.
Step 1 - Does Google know you exist?
Type into google your exact domain. This is the part after ‘WWW’
EG: my website is: www.receptive.com.au so in google I type “receptive.com.au” (image 1)
Ok, if your site is found like the sample above, then you can be happy that your site is ‘indexed’ by google. Some really new sites won’t appear yet, and if you take the steps discussed below you will soon be found in the type of search listed here.
(Note: avoid using ‘website submission tools’ These are not usually worth the hassle, there are much faster ways of being found, and some rumours are that you could be penalised if you re-submit a site too many times.)
Step 2
If you were found in Google’s index, you need to do this step;
Search your top 5-10 search terms. These are the Keywords which you are going to track for improvement over time. You may add to or remove words from your tracking list from time to time, and I have clients who track over 50 different words for one website. But you can start with 5 or 10 while you learn the steps.
Do the search in Google and Yahoo for each of your keywords. Scroll down through the first 10-20 pages until you find your website (if it is there at all.) Record the page and place on that page where you appear.
Step 3
Download the “Google Toolbar” from http://toolbar.google.com/ install it and add the option for ‘PageRank’
Visit each of the pages of your site and record the PageRank of each page.
That’s all you need to get started. You now have a benchmark by which to measure your success. Now get to work on the next stage.
Stage two.
You have your list of 5-10 keywords from stage one. You now need to expand this list to be sure you are covering your subject.
Download Good Keywords from www.goodkeywords.com. This software will generate oodles of words built around your keywords. What this tool also does, is give you an indication of how many searches are done for each of these words, which may indicate that you need to change your keyword focus. This list will also provide phrases which people are using with your keywords.
This single tool alone can make your articles go from interesting to invaluable. We are going to get to articles shortly.
Review your industry
Do your search again for each keyword. And click on the each site in the first page of results.
When you visit each of these sites, you want to find what it is that makes them appear on the first page of results. There are many techniques used by professionals to judge these criteria. There are too many methods for the average website owner to learn and understand. I will share two things that may be obvious. First, read the text. I’d expect to find that the phrase or keyword is repeated several times on the page and site. Secondly, in your internet explorer (or other browser) you have the option to view the source of the page. (figure 2)
After you select this you should see something like Figure 3:
While there is mostly much more text in this file, above is a sample of what you should find. The highlighted sections are the ones you are looking for, and there are many others that you could become familiar with as you build on your knowledge. What these give you is an insight about what this site’s owners deem as important words for their clients.
When you couple these two techniques you should be able to know which topic areas, and what design elements you need to focus your energy on in your articles in future.
Stage three
Create a place to publish writing
Your website should have the ability for you to easily add images and text to your website. This functionality is essential for any website owner who is serious about being successful. While systems vary from awkward to very easy, you need to decide on a system that suits you. It should be easy for you to use, fit your budget, and have the potential to grow with your needs. What this means is that right now you might only want to edit text, but in the future, you may want to create forms, build photo galleries, add an online shop, design a members area, or edit your menu’s. You should be able to find a system which is growing with the internet and will grow with you as your skills develop.
Start writing
From Stage two, you found extra keywords, and reviewed your industry to see what you client base wants to know about and is searching for. Now you need to give them that information. If you have time, select 2-3 keywords, and write an article that uses these words. Each article should only focus on 2-3 keywords, and should not be ‘over the top’ with these words. What this means is the story needs to read well. If a person reads it, it needs to make them want to buy from you or contact you.
If you don’t have time, to write, call in the experts. This is one stage that hiring others can be the best thing you could do. If you want to try your luck online, visit www.elance.com and upload your request for people to bid on your business. You could pay anything from US$50- to US$500- for 10 articles on your list of keywords.
These articles should then be published on your website, blog, newsletters, and sometimes in forums.
Publish on other sites.
If you really like an article, you may claim it as your own and publish it on ‘Article Directories’ (search for this term and you will see thousands of places to publish.) An example of this is www.ezinearticles.com.
There are obviously many more things you could work on to get found in the search engines, but this is a great starting point for all your future work.
Author: Brendan Byrne http://www.receptive.com.au is an internet marketing consultant. Brendan runs workshops on how to manage your online business and effectively market yourself.
The Chief Economist from Google is recorded here explaining Adwords. This is well worth the 9mins 12seconds if you ever wanted to understand how much you are going to pay for your ads. Very simple to understand and kind of funny to see too - a real person, using a whiteboard - in Google!
Charity organisations are just beginning to realise the importance and value of social networking, 21st-century style, to enhance interaction between organizations and the general public, as well as increase donations to wide range of social and community based philanthropic organizations.
Whether it comes to global warming or Habitat for Humanity, today's society has grown increasingly visual-based through the use of Internet use and habits. For example, social networking websites on the Internet have exploded in both use and function. Not too long ago, MySpace, a common social networking arena for high school and college age students, has now been taken over by the post 35-year-old age set. YouTube, a popular create-it-yourself-video website, receives over 100 million visitors per month. Facebook, another popular social networking website, increased its members by over 120% in a mere 12 months.
Charity organisations need to take advantage of the popularity and ability to connect with millions of users through such social networking websites. One such organization, Defenders of Wildlife, has utilized the tools and options on MySpace to create alerts to blog posts, bulletins, and advance notice of special events in their calendars. By utilizing special tools and codes on MySpace, friends and visitors to the Defenders of Wildlife page are able to create banner ads to place on their own MySpace pages.
Another charitable organization, the Humane Society, has a huge following on MySpace. A large network of friends enables the Humane Society to write and create content that addresses common and popular issues between MySpace members, animal lovers, and methods that encourage them to help in their own communities. By including links back to original websites outside of MySpace, charitable organizations are able to encourage and develop hundreds of contacts through social networking member databases.
Another method, through which the Humane Society helps to spread its message throughout social networking websites, is to provide videos and links to return to the organization's homepage. The ability to share such videos and links among members helps spread the word faster than any other method used today.
Catering to the desires of consumers and fledging philanthropists not only in the United States but around the world, charitable organizations are taking advantage of social networking when organising charitable websites to enlist and encourage visitors and donors to make a difference through their own contributions. Some of the most common charitable or non-profit organisations seen in MySpace or Facebook social networking websites today include:
• Stop global warming
• End global hunger
• Protect endangered habitats
• End homelessness
• Promote fair trade
Organisations have begun to understand the importance of focusing on issues that encourage action. Recently, the Chicago Tribune noted "…non-profit organizations are testing ways to raise money through these networks, betting that the Internet's viral nature will open fresh avenues for fundraising and marketing."
Brendan Byrne (www.receptive.com.au) is an internet marketing consultant. Brendan runs workshops on how to manage your online business and effectively market yourself.
With the growth of social networking on the Internet, many people have turned to networks found online as a source of money earning potential. Some of the most popular sites, such as YouTube, Facebook and MySpace, are great locations to boost your own company or organization's sales, gain additional customers or donors and even market your products or services.
If done successfully, everyone has the potential of earning money on any of the social networking sites within a reasonable amount of time. Internet marketers increasingly use networks to increase their own demographic, since sites such as Facebook bring in thousands of new members each month. Using social networking as a way to promote or advertise is extremely beneficial, since it reaches a massive audience around the world all at the same time. YouTube, a site where anyone can post videos, tutorials or anything else they have a mind to post, reaches up to 100 million visitors per month. By using this site as a source of advertising or marketing, companies or organisations are able to share their message in ways that would be impossible by traditional methods.
To begin setting up marketing through a social networking site, the first step is to sign up for an account. MySpace, Xanga and Facebook are just a few of the many websites that contain networking capabilities. Signing up for an account can be done either with a company name, a charity name or even the user's actual name. Many Internet marketers commonly use a pen name to register, and then create a profile to advertise or market their ideas or products.
Selling products on social networking sites usually does not have a limit. Opportunities to post links back to personal websites helps to generate traffic and offers users more potential to understand more of what is being advertised. Websites such as MySpace allow video or music capabilities that work much like television commercials, without the astronomical costs involved in a televised media campaign. Another beneficial feature found in many social networking sites is the ability to share information through the use of bulletins. This allows anyone to write message or display information that posts throughout the entire network that individual users belong to. Providing links or product reviews and then sending them as a mass bulletin to thousands of people generates commission sales for products advertised by the user.
Many individuals use their profile as a way to generate and earn money through social networking websites. Social networking on the Internet enables direct relationships between individuals, companies, organizations, charities, and encourages dialogue, direct involvement, and immediate feedback for causes and events. Social networking profiles are used in promoting a product or even to promote second party products. Using profiles to post reviews, informative pieces, and links to the product itself or other sites are just some of the ways that marketers make use of social networking sites in the 21st century.
Brendan Byrne (www.receptive.com.au) is an internet marketing consultant. Brendan runs workshops on how to manage your online business and effectively market yourself.
Brendan Byrne is heading to Brisbane with Ian Marsh to present a 2 hour seminar on how to build a business website.
In under 2 hours you will watch as we create a fully functioning business web site. After this event you will be able to walk out and make your own online business. You will need to register as soon as you can, as there are only 40 seats available and over 200 people interested in coming. I look forward to seeing you there.
Tuesday 7th October, Broncos Leagues Club
There is no cost for attending, however a $20- donation will be collected at the door for the Starlight Foundation.
Google announced this week that they are changing the way they work out your quality score. This is part of the algorithm that works out how much to charge you per click, and what position to place your advert.
