SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION SEO COMPANY

Google is a billion dollar corporation, and basically controls the flow of information on the internet.  They have introduced brilliant ideas such as Google Goggles (if you haven’t seen this, I suggest you check it out!) the Android operating system for smart phones, and many many others!

The one aspect of this industry that I love is the ever involving nature of SEO and online marketing.  The difficulty of this is the unknown.  What is Google alpha testing? How will this affect my clients, and how can we take advantage of this?

An interesting blog post on Converseon.com shows Google maps taking over! A search was conducted of “car rentals nyc” and instead of the normal Google Maps listing in the top real estate of the page, Google Maps was  the entire first page.

This looks to be a new results page that Google is testing, and normally it is quite some time between testing, launching, and rolling out to the world wide data centres.  What this does show is the different strategies needed for you business to receive leads in the changing market place.

In this example, we can see that Google Maps is prominent, and highly valued by Google. It can also be seen that adwords are still very important, and prominent – as it always will be.

If this is rolling out, or even if the idea is up in the air, conformity is a must! With no organic search results on the first page, how are people going to buy your products or services if they can’t find you?  Location based keywords? Get Google Maps, or potentially be left behind.

After the excitement and energy of the World Cup Soccer Tournament had died down, E-Web Marketing decided to revive the spirit during lunchtime by holding a FIFA World Cup tournament of its own. Entries were taken and over the course of two weeks, a knock out competition was held to find out who the best FIFA Soccer player was. Players from every department faced off at lunch times and the atmosphere in the recreation room was electric. We had everything we needed to recreate the World Cup in our office, minus the vuvuzelas (but that didn’t stop us making a racket without them!).

Round 1 played out without too many upsets. The seasoned players were known and they strategically picked off the weaker, inexperienced players one by one. The quarter finals were where things started to heat up and rivalries were formed. The favourites, Aris and Buckley, began sledging each other early on and this continued up to the very end. The games were tight and many ended in penalty shoot-outs, creating much tension and spilt lunches on the rec room floor. Woofie, our office mascot, enjoyed the festivities as much as we did as he graciously picked up the remnants of the excited spectators’ lunches.

After a very cordial playoff for third place between Thakorlal and Forz (Thakorlal getting through with a nail biting win), the office gathered for the anticipated final between Aris “The Hitman” Abramian and Daniel “Girlyman” Buckley. The Hitman came out swinging however it was the steady and patient press by Girlyman that triumphed. Aris certainly wins a mention for his skillful sledging of his opponents however all credit must go to Daniel “Girlyman” Buckley - who prevailed to win the title of E-Web’s FIFA Soccer Champion!

Beta testing has begun for a new Facebook feature, Facebook Questions, which allows users to ask and answer questions via the social media network.

The Questions product is strongly reminiscent of Yahoo! Answers, whererin users exchange questions and answers by posting to message boards.

Currently only 1% of Facebook users are able to access the testing version of Questions, with Facebook planning an eventual universal implementation of the feature if it proves to be a success.

Users will be able to ask Facebook Questions in a variety of ways: by updating their statuses, via the search field, or by using a new dashboard specifically developed for Questions. Popular Questions will be able to be identified by user-added category tags for ease of reference.

One might think that asking questions on a social media platform would personalise the task of online information-gathering, with users going to their friends for answers instead of the whole of the Internet. Not so – every question posted via the new feature will be entirely public. No exceptions allowed.

Then again, this is Facebook. User privacy is not its forte.

Beyond giving Facebook users access to the collective wisdom of their 500 million plus online brethren, the upcoming format will present new opportunities for using social media in business.

A brand’s Facebook fan page will be enabled with the Questions feature – so expect to see Coke and McDonalds asking and answering their way to real-time consumer research and viral marketing in the near future.

At least they’ll probably be giving away freebies in exchange for answers.

The Google Wave dream is over.

Last year, Google launched their innovative new project, Google Wave to the masses as a real time web app. Benefits of this new scheme included character-by-character live typing, and the ability to drag-and-drop files from the desktop, even “playback” the history of changes-all within a browser.

Google created quite a song and dance regarding this new initiative - although they did reiterate that they weren’t quite sure how users would respond to this radically new and different kind of communication.

However, it is now time to wave good-bye to Google wave. Google announced that the program had not received the user adoption they were expecting.

So, what does this mean for those of you addicted to Google Wave (anyone??)

Well at this stage, Google plans to extend the technology for use in other Google projects by allowing the central parts of the code to continue to be available as open source, in the hopes that anyone out there can build upon the existing technology.

Google’s senior VP, Urs Holzle, insists that the Google team is proud of the boundaries they pushed in developing the Google Wave platform.

Did you ever use Google Wave? What were your experiences?

It may come as no surprise that some links cost more than others. This is because the higher the authority of a webpage; the more effective a link becomes and ergo more expensive. There are no real metrics for determining the authority of a webpage (Many use PageRank) as the sole determiner of a page’s authority but this is not an accurate measurement.

Many site’s that appear prominently in the search results have little to no PageRank and often above websites with considerable PageRank.

How do I check a site’s authority?

If you are looking to advertise on a website and you want to measure it’s authority for the keyword you want to target, simply do a Google search and if that website appears in the results then it’s a good indicator that the website in question has authority for that particular keyword.

The exceptions?

Having said that, there are exceptions to this rule. The Open Directory Project (DMOZ) and the Yahoo Directory (Y! Directory) very rarely will appear in the search results but are known to be highly authoratative and powerful directories. The Yahoo Directory has a $US299 recurring annual fee as well a $299USD non-refundable express submission service*.

* The Yahoo Directory offers a Submission service that guarantees your site will be submitted, but does not guarantee inclusion or prominent rankings

For all those in the know - and especially those who aren’t, there is one strong commandment that you should live your online life by. What is this you ask?

CONTENT IS KING!

Content must be part of any Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy - and there must be sufficient, unique text on each page of your website. There should also be a strategy in place so that you can continually increase the page count of your website and a content management system is the easiest way to do this.

However, the benefits of great content extend beyond the realm of SEO and can be the primary way to build your brand awareness as well as conveying your key messages to your target audience.

There is also much debate in relation to how this content should be written - for the user or the search engine?

Well, content should always be written with the user in mind - however are there certain steps you can take to ensure that this content is also beneficial from an SEO perspective.

Writing keyword-rich content is an integral part of ensuring your website ranks well on search engines.

Now, there is a fine line in terms of what constitutes “keyword rich” the key is to think of the key phrase you want your page to rank for and centre content around that.

No need to get a calculator out to ensure your key phrase appears X times - but keep this phrase in mind as you generate your content and what you will find is that it appears naturally within the body of that content anyway!

Any reputable SEO firm will be able to guide you in terms of what content should appear on the website and will do the grunt work in terms of ensuring that the key phrases appears in all the areas that search engine’s look for. These key area’s tend to be your website’s navigation labels, page titles, header tags, alt descriptions (for images), image titles, anchor links and file names.

Traffic first - conversions next!

As your organic rankings increase, so too should the organic traffic numbers to your website. However - the important aspect to remember now is that you must lead this traffic to perform the action intended by your website.

Your calls-to-action should offer compelling benefits. Write them using action verbs and commands that convey a sense of urgency, such as ‘Discover’, ‘Sign up’ and ‘Buy now’.

Short and simple wins the customer

Most visitors to websites quickly seek out words and images of interest to them! It is important that your website caters to this style of reading so that you do not lose your potential customers interest

1. Write short, hard-hitting sentences

2. Keep your paragraphs concise and to the point.

3. Use sub-headings highlight and draw your reader’s attention to the main messages within your text

4. Use bullet points to help make your copy easier to readand to break up the text on your page

I’d love to hear any feedback or stories of success you have been able to achieve for your website with the addition of content.

E-Web Marketing’s very own Tristen Tan joined the 85,000 runners in the 2010 Sun-Herald City2Surf yesterday for the annual event. The weather on Sunday was beautiful, and after much preparation the big day finally arrived.

Tristen had spent months training and sticking to a very strict diet - and it was all worth it because he did everyone proud!

Tristen’s goal for the day was to run a personal best and he was able to achieve this with a great time of 69 minutes and 22 seconds.

On a more personal note, Tristen’s motivation for running in the event was to raise money for SANE Australia - a national mental health charity, whose work is centered on creating a better life for people affected by mental illness through education, research and campaigning. You can still make a donation here

His target was to raise $750.00 for the charity - however with support from his family, friends and of course his E-Web Marketing family he was able to raise $853.00, so we are all so proud of this achievement.

We are also proud to let everyone know that another member of our E-Web Marketing family, Lara Tamsett, a great client of ours from Ring-A-Box, actually placed as the FIRST female runner to cross the finish line in just under 47 minutes. This is an incredible achievement and the entire E-Web Marketing family is thrilled to be able to acknowledge Lara in her accomplishment.

Did you participate in the 2010 Sun-Herald City2Surf this year? If so, we’d love to hear about your success.

Rumour has it that Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, plans to tap into the growing mobile tablet market that is currently dominated by Apple’s iPad. According to a source said to be familiar with the company’s plans, RIM will launch their as yet unnamed tablet during November of this year.

With Apple’s tablet selling more than 3 million units within the first two months of its launch, RIM is under pressure to bring out a rival product before Apple releases the next generation iPad, and so claiming an even larger market share.

Rumour has it that RIM’s tablet will be named the ‘Blackpad’, have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad, and be priced from $499 USD.

As for differences, apparently the system will not be able to connect directly to mobile networks, while many iPads can. And the Blackpad will feature a front and back facing camera for easy to use video conferencing.

RIM hopes that this product will capitalise on the BlackBerry’s email capabilities and its enduring popularity with corporate users.

However, given the disparity of Apple and RIM’s target demographics, it’s doubtful whether November will see crazed fans waiting in a line all night for the Blackpad to go on sale.

1. If I have multiple contact forms on different pages, do I need a separate thank you page for each one?

It is dependent on the goal. In most cases it is not necessary if there is the same contact form on every page. You do not need a separate thank you page for different contact forms.

If you have a form on the /contact.php page and the /about-us.php page that both redirect to the same thank you page (/thank-you.php) once the form is submitted, the programmer can setup a goal funnel to track which page (/contact.php or /about-us.php) the visitor is filling in the form. You can also check which pages the user visited that led up to a goal completion (Goals > Reverse Goal Path).

 2. Why can’t goals be set up on my shopping cart?

There could be several reasons why goals cannot be set up on your website. A common reason why we cannot set up goals on a shopping cart is that there is no receipt (thank you) page. The reason why we need a thank you page for goals is because it is the best way to track whether a visitor has completed a goal or conversion.

In the case where your website redirects to an external website for payment, please refer to the “Can I set up goals if my payment page goes off-page (e.g. PayPal)?” answer.

 3. Can I set up goals if my payment page goes off-site (e.g. PayPal)?

We cannot track a conversion completely if the website redirects to an off-site payment website (e.g. PayPal). This is because we do not have access to the PayPal website. We cannot place your Google Analytics code on an off-site payment page and therefore lose the visitor tracking. The best solution is for clients to implement an onsite payment strategy.

 4. What is Ecommerce goal tracking?

E-Commerce goal tracking is a block of code that is inserted on a receipt (thank you) page which automatically detects and records transactions (by assigning a dollar value) and product information. The data recorded by the code can then be reviewed in Google Analytics. E-commerce goal tracking is most beneficial to shopping cart websites.

 5. Is it possible to track the pages that the visitor visited before reaching my thank you page?

Yes, we can track the previous pages a user visited before reaching the thank you page (if a goal for the thank you page has been set up on your Google Analytics account). However, this will only work if your website does not redirect to an off-site payment page. Goals > Reverse Goal Path will show which pages the user has visited before completing a goal.

 6. What happens if my goals change?

If your goals change, you should immediately update them in Google Analytics. You may also need to update the conversion process as well.

 7. What happens to my goals if I redesign my website?

If the URLs have changed on the website, the goals setup may need to be changed.

 8. What is a conversion rate?

The goal conversion rate is the percentage of sessions on a site that results in a completed goal. The formula to determine the conversion rate is:

Conversion rate = outcomes (aka completed goals)/ visitors x 100

The US Copyright Office decreed on Monday that Americans are no longer prevented by law from jail-breaking their iPhones.

“Jail-breaking” refers to the reprogramming/unlocking an iPhone to be compatible with non-Apple approved software applications. The practice is fairly common, as there are millions of jail-broken iPhones in current circulation.

Though bypassing an iPhone’s operating system restrictions had until very recently been illegal, iPhone manufacturer Apple had never filed copyright or breach-of-contract lawsuits against any of its customers with unlocked iPhones.

Therefore the Copyright Office’s decision is more a political victory for lobbies such as the Electronic Freedom Frontier, who advocate the right of iPhone consumers to choose what they do with their own mobile devices.

Consumers who use unlocked iPhones do so to get around the restrictions that prevent them from running unauthorised programs, as well as to be able to choose their own network providers instead of being limited to those carriers in exclusive partnership with Apple.

On the other hand, Apple is understandably against the legitimisation of jail-breaking. Primarily because it threatens the official exclusivity of its highly profitable App Store. With unlocked iPhones, users are able to buy and run unauthorised apps from underground providers, which do not contribute to the company’s profit margin.

Apple’s other major concern is that jail-broken devices are much more susceptible to security problems and malfunctions. Apple claims that its customer support centres are inundated with calls about unlocked iPhones that have been infected with malware, or even physically damaged, as a result of jail-breaking.

Since the decision to legalise jail-breaking was announced, Apple has been quick to remind that the practice is still a technical breach of contract between manufacturer and customer, and so voids the warranty on an iPhone.

Something still worth considering for consumers who prefer to live an iPhone life unlocked.