Optimising your website for Google is like creating your own classifieds ads
I recently helped a client understand how to optimise their website for Google’s organic search results. Organic search results are the ones that are truly relevancy based, in other words they are free listings at Google. By changing the description for each page of their website using keywords that bring new traffic and making offers that encourage people to click, this company is effectively keeping their website live and constantly updated, while also providing potential clients with current and relevant information.
The best example that we have of a website where we use this strategy is www.myobcourse.com.au. This website has traditionally received excellent traffic for MYOB courses and training and our focus has traditionally been for the sale of the online course. We’ve started working with Maxis Solutions to offer the MYOB Day-to-Day course at training centres in Burwood, Chatswood and Miranda and we’ve put this information in the description of the home page so that potential customers looking for an MYOB course can see this new information instantly in the Google search results. Give it a go and search for “MYOB Course” and you’ll see the information about the new courses at training centres around Sydney.
It is quite easy to make changes to the title of each page as well as the description and keyword/keyphrase meta tags for each page using the 123ezy.com website builder and it takes up to a week for these changes to filter through to the Google search database so don’t expect to see the change immediately. It’s a great feeling to see the new control that you have over how your website. This link explains a bit more about how websites and web pages can be optimised: http://123ezy.com/main/page_education_search_optimisation.html
Read MoreWhat’s all this about Feedburner?
I’m writing this post because I want to keep it clear in my head as well as share this information with you. Feedburner is a way of emailing each article you write at your Blog. I may call it a blog post, but you could call it a news article about your business.
If people subscribe to your blog using Feedburner, then rather than implement an email newsletter system and think carefully about what you want to write in each broadcast, your recipients will simple receive each blog post (news article that you write).
To make this happen using WordPress I
- Created the account at feedburner.com,
- went to the Feedburner publicise option
- and requested the code for an email subscription form to put on my website
- Went to wordpress (by blogs admin area), created a Text box in the right side widget section
- Pasted the cost in the text/html box
I then personalised my FeedBurner account by setting up a CNAME record so that rather than all my feeds requiring a google address, they could use something like feeds.slisar.com.au (which is better to keep everything at your own domain).
I also downloaded a plugin called FeedBurner FeedSmith, activated it and then told it to look for my feeds from the newly created sub-domain of feeds.slisar.com.au.
Now I just need to ensure that it really does work…
Read MoreCan I measure my internet speed?
Yes, you can. There are websites that allow you to perform rudimentary tests to see how fast your internet connection is and they provide a good guide to show you what you are dealing with. I’ve mentioned some interesting website tools below, but this seems to be the best that I’ve seen: http://www.speedtest.net/ They use technology from ookla.com and you might find the results quite interesting.
Here is an interesting calculator and by the looks of it, its probably focussed more towards nerdy type people: http://www.bandcalc.com/ Just make sure that IP is the selected parameter and it shows you that the average bandwidth is 80kbps.
There’s also this guide that shows you the different codecs and how they effect the bandwidth used: http://www.ozvoip.com/codecs.php
Read MoreThe future of local small business marketing
It used to be the ol’ sandwich board and big sign outside your business that brought traffic and new customers to your business. Which is great if you are in the middle of a busy street, but what if you’re a great cafe tucked away somewhere nice?
The era of social media and geo tagging is bringing a plethora of new software programs that run on smartphones like Apple’s iPhone. Your iphone is now your street directory and with geo-tagging, tagging a specific location with exact co-ordinates so that your smartphone can display it on a map, your iphone can not only show you where you need to go but reveal all the other possible locations around you. Applications like AroundMe (http://bit.ly/dzpN28) allow you to find exactly what you are looking for while showing you how far away they are from you and if you want to get really advanced you could consider Augmented Reality (AR) that shows you on your video screen where cafe’s are as if they are an enemy aircraft.
What does this mean for small business? Well, I’m a little more tech-friendly than many people but I am now taking photos of food and restaurants and becoming a critic, writing comments about their venue, quality of food and service and I’m starting to see many more people “checking in” with these programs. My favourite application so far has to be Gowalla (http://bit.ly/cIAN2o). It’s simple (made in Texas) and allows you to do all the things you would want to do to tell friends and family about a place you like or dislike.
At this point, it is important for small businesses to be aware of these applications because whether they like to keep up with technology or not, younger people will use these applications to explore the area they have just moved into and there’ll be an opportunity to build a cult following with your customers and advocates.
Read MoreAre Hotspots important?
The question is really, what do you get at a hotspot? You get WIFI access to the internet. That means you get broadband speeds without having to pay for wireless devices from Optus and Telstra which are very expensive and you don’t need to plug your laptop into a cable (or visa versa). But more important than your laptop, what about your mobile phone? Most mobile phones these days provide internet access, either using something like Wireless modems (very expensive) or WiFi via your home, office, or public hotspot (no extra cost, except perhaps extra download charges).
I just read a report from in-stat.com which claims that most of the increased usage of HotSpots is generated by SmartPhones, like Apple’s iPhone. It seems that more and more people are using their mobile at hotspots rather than a laptop. I guess these smart phones allow you to access the internet for important things, like email, Google Maps, the weather, stock market prices etc… but the big thing, I think, will be the use of VoIP. I mean, why would you make a call (in a hotspot) at a mobile call rate when you can use your Skype account or Fring (when using with your VoIP account)?
Seems like the future rests in Wifi, whether at hotspots or using the old Analogue TV’s whitespace. Watch this space, should be quite interesting.
Read MoreWhy I choose WordPress for a small business blog
A blog is an interesting concept. It is used to share opinions, provide advice and bring traffic to your website. It’s like have a space to write articles in a major newspaper publication that everyone looks forward to reading. You can get paid for it or use it to bring traffic to your website.
There are a wide variety of blogging tools out there. You could go to a blogging site like blogger.com and create one quickly, then start typing. You could go directly to WordPress and create one to start adding your ideas and thoughts. If you are going to build a serious blog though, and make the committment to keep adding to it on a regular basis, then you really want to have it at your own domain (like slisar.com.au).
I simply logged into the cPanel (administration section of my website hosting account, provided by 123ezy), then clicked on the Fantastico icon to look at all the scripts I could install quite easily. By the way, the modern term for a program is “script”. I then clicked WordPress and installed it in a matter of minutes.
Finally, one of the best parts of WordPress is that because it is used so widely there are many people who create templates (or themes) to use with your WordPress script. You still create new blog posts and maintain your WordPress blog as you normally would, but it looks completely different to the public. Now, that is technology at work for you. If you don’t like the themes out there that you can buy for about US$75 (check out www.press75.com), then you can purchase and download a program that allows you to create your own templates (themes). If you get really good at it, you can start selling your own WordPress themes. Check out www.artisteer.com.
There we have it. Creating a blog is better at your own domain and WordPress is such a versatile script (and free) that I wouldn’t look anywhere else. Enjoy your blogging.
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