Archive for February, 2009

Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

We have said at Small Business Internet Marketing quite often that 88% of searches in Australia are done on the Google search engine (it runs at about 72% in USA) – so in effect SEO means getting visible in Google.

So it stands to reason that what everyone who dabbles in the black art of SEO wants to know, is how Google determines who ranks where. Every small business would love to know so they could dress appropriately to ensure that Google whistles at them in the crowded bar of websites and blogs.

Continue reading – SEO and Google

Hi, Marshall and Gary here,

Before we jump in and start developing a keyword list for a small business, we need to understand some of the associated keyword terminology.

We commonly refer to basic or top level keywords. This simply means the ones you have selected first are the obvious ones that relate directly to the description of the product or service you offer. For example, if you were in the Golf market, you would have a basic or top level list that would include golf, golfing and golfers. These are also an example of what’s referred to as single keywords.

Short tail keywords represent the next level. These contain two words. For example, golf course, golfing tuition and golfers guide.

Now long tail keywords (or keyword phrases) are those that usually contain 3 or more connected keywords. For example golf course design, golfing tuition videos, golfers guide to putting. Long tail keywords are generally more descriptive and are more targeted to specific market niche.

Continue reading – Understanding keywords basics

We wish you all the best of luck in applying this tool in your endeavours to secure more BSP clients and also extend your current BSPs and introducing them to the world of small business internet marketing. If you found this Google keyword tool helpful, or you’d simply like to share your successes and war stories in its application, we’d love to hear from you, so please, we encourage you to leave a comment below.

Continue reading – Google Keyword Tool video

Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

Last post on Small Business Internet Marketing, we tried to define what social networking and Web 2.0 are. Hopefully we achieved this.

We find people that we speak to about this nod their heads sagely and say “ah yes, I am a Facebook member so I understand what you are talking about”. There is no doubt using something like Facebook really shows the power and scope of social networking. Instead of ringing 20 friends to say you are going to the pub tonight, you simply post it on Facebook.

Continue reading – Social netwroking – more than facebook

Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

Without a doubt, the biggest buzzword that we run across at Small Business Internet Marketing with small business owners is SEO (technically it is probably a buzz-acronym). As we said in the last post, it stands for search engine optimisation.

Everyone wants it. Everyone wants their website or blog on the front page of Google. There are lots of people selling on the internet who will “guarantee” the front page. We always find this a bold claim, and one that generally is not quite true. Of course there are many businesses out there who do a great job for their clients with SEO and give them as high visibility as possible.

The biggest problem with Google is virtually all users have the front page set to 10 listings (yes – you can change it if you want, but people rarely do). So getting on this page is highly competitive. And the people who are already on it tend to be very protective of their position so they (or their website designers) will use all their skills and knowledge to stay there.

Continue reading – SEO for beginners

Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

There is no doubt that the advent of the internet has created many new colourful words and phrases to the English language.

One is search engine. A search engine is simply a software program. It allows the user to type in a words or words that the user considers relevant to what they are seeking to find. The program then searches an index of databases to see what it has that it believes user is seeking. It then displays the results to the user, who can choose a relevant result and click the hyperlink to access the site.

We all know that computers are getting faster and faster, but obviously it would be technologically impossible to search every existing website, blog, document, video, etc. Especially when it returns 57.9 million results in 0.15 seconds (this is the result in Google if you search for “search engines”).

How does it do this?

Continue reading – What is a search engine

Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

Carrying on from Part 1,

If the name of your business is “Hinkler Roasted Peanut and Green Grape Farm” and you have a website www.hinklerroastedpeanutandgreengrapefarm.com that had only minimal optimisation for that keyword phrase, you would be almost guaranteed of the #1 search engine result. Why? Because your keyword phrase is unique as there is unlikely to be another business with the same name. In addition, one of the many search engine algorithms works on matching exactly the keyword or phrase entered. There may be millions of sites that have been indexed by the search engines that contain the individual keywords, but very few, if any than just your site, that have these keywords appear in that order.

Now if we have a look at this keyword phrase we will see that it is made up of individual keywords that could be searched independently. Even though you may rank highly for the entire phrase, where do you rank for the individual keywords and more specifically, what is your ranking for the keywords of the products that you sell? i.e. roasted peanut, green grape?

And finally, how many people are searching for your keyword phrase. It is highly unlikely that anyone would be keying in your entire keyword phrase unless they already knew the name of your business or they were specifically looking for your small business blog or website. People searching for the type of products offered by your business would be searching for roasted peanut or green grapes. I can guarantee you one thing, no one is searching for your keyword phrase.

So what does this tell us? Well, it’s simple, it is not that hard to rank highly for a particular keyword or keyword phrase depending on how unique the word (for example what the hell is a Google before Google created their business?), or the unique nature of your keyword phrase, but uniqueness isn’t going to ensure you visitor or search engine traffic. In short your blog or website needs to rank highly enough for keywords that your customers are actually searching for and not what you hope or think they are searching for.

In our next post in the Understanding Keywords category we will have a look at how to develop an appropriate keyword list for your small business‘ products and services.

If you don’t want to miss any of this Understanding Keywords series, be notified of all the new posts by subscribing to our RSS feed at the top right hand side of this page.

And while you are at it don’t forget to leave a comment on each post and let us know if you are enjoying our observations or if you’ve got any helpful suggestions, questions or issues you’d like us to address.

Next post – what is a search engine?

Your business buddies

Marshall and Gary

Hi, Marshall and Gary here

One of the most common questions we encounter is “what keywords should I use?” Well…. the answer obviously depends on a range of variables such as what market are you in, what are your key products or services, who is your market, where is your market located…. and the list goes on.

Keyword research and the use of keywords has developed and matured over recent years. In the early days keyword research was a tool used to feed up all sorts of trickery to deceive the search engines. Those days are well behind us and the complexity and sophistication of the search engine algorithms ensures that engaging in tricky is only going to end in heartache whilst sticking to the rules and working hard on developing a keyword list and then optimising your blog or website correctly for these keywords will pay dividends.

Through the use of keyword tools, there is no excuse for not understanding the language of your customers. The secret to online success is to tap into that language and start to enter the conversations of your prospects and customers so you can develop, promote and deliver a highly targeted product or service.

Successful internet marketing requires a vigilant approach to the research of your keywords. The battle for the consumer dollar starts and ends here. If you have not spent the time to understand what your prospects or customers are searching for, regardless of how great your blog or website looks, or how it performs…. you’re simply not going to get enough traffic to your site to ensure its success.

The importance of keywords today cannot be underestimated. Keywords and keyword phrases have developed into a form of currency by which official markets have been established to enable you to bid on the use of keywords in online advertising campaigns and purchase keyword rich domain names.

The value of keywords and keyword phrases can be seen on a daily basis in the search engine results. Internet statistics from around the world tell us that on average the number #1 ranked position on a search engine results page (SERP) can expect to receive 42% of the traffic generated by that keyword or phrase. Now depending on your market this could mean a steady trickle of visitors to your blog or website or it could mean a barrage of traffic that sends your servers into melt down.

To dominate the SERP results for particular keywords and phrases can (with a high degree of certainty) guarantee you some level of traffic to your blog or website, however it doesn’t mean that you will have a profitable site or convert any business from it.

Next post – true value of keywords (Part 2)

Your business buddies

Marshall and Gary

Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

If you remotely follow the internet, you will have no doubt seen the term social networking. Quite often it is used in conjunction with Web 2.0.

At Small Business Internet Marketing, we like to try and provide our clients and followers simple descriptions of terms and concepts.

So let’s start first with Web 2.0. The best way we can think to describe this very broad concept is to highlight what Web 1.0 is. Think of the most static, one-dimensional website that you have ever seen that has absolutely no interaction with a visitor to the site – well that is what Web 1.0 is. Classic symptoms are informational only, static, no videos, little change.

Web 2.0 is characterised by online communities where people share opinions and information, lots of videos (did you wonder why Google bought YouTube when they already had a video service anyway) and audio and general interconnectiveness (well there’s a new word for the world). It has grown off the back of broadband rollout that has provided the bandwidth.

A good definition of social networking is “it refers to a broad class of web sites and services that allow you to connect with friends, family, and colleagues online, as well as meet people with similar interests or hobbies Many, such as the popular Facebook and MySpace, let you create a profile where you can post photos, information about yourself like location, hobbies, and relationship status, and send and receive correspondence with online contacts.” – thanks to tucows for this definition.

Between Web 2.0 and social networking, there is a fundamental change in the way people are using the internet. So any internet marketing strategy has to be cognisant of these sweeping changes.

Next post – the true value of keywords.

Your business buddies

Marshall and Gary

Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

Our last post on the Small Business Internet Marketing blog was discussing the attachment that small business owners have to their business name.

It makes sense that if someone searches for your business name (and you have something on the internet), that the Google search should offer your website up as the first organic result. If not, we would suggest some serious navel gazing as to the value of your website as currently configured.

This, unfortunately, is all too rare for many companies. It is more likely that a searcher will type in what service or product they are after.

One reason we like blogs is that it can create much more freedom in the domain name selection – owners accept that they can be used a useful tool to create interest in a area related to their own area of expertise. So this allows them to more clearly focus in on the keywords that are being searched to craft a high visibility name.

To use the Bob Smith Auto Electrician fictional example – Bob may be have technical expertise in racing car electrics. Using this knowledge, it may be that 500 searches done every month in Australia on electrics in racing cars when researched. It may be that the domain name “racingcarselectrics.com.au” is available. So Bob can set up a blog under this name and start to post away to get high visibility.

Selection of a good domain name is only one very small part of getting seen, but is also a good place to start when using a blog internet marketing strategy.

Next post – social networking

Your business buddies

Marshall and Gary

Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

We often find, quite rightly, that small business owners are married to their company name. This makes absolute sense to us at Small Business Internet Marketing.

There is a saying along the lines of “small businesses are often started with dream or a fight”. In other words, the owner wants to sell everyone else the dream (perfect flowers, hot rod cars, you name it) or started their company after becoming disillusioned where they worked (you know – “the boss is an idiot, I could do this far better” type person).

Because of this, their business name has a lot of personal resonance to them. This is even more so the case when it is eponymously named – as in a fictional Bob Smith owns a company called Bob Smith Auto Electrician.

So it is a natural reaction for owners to want a domain name for their website or blog that is as close as possible to their business name. Nothing wrong with this, but often the domain name then takes them into to some awfully crowded web space.

It is OK if someone searches for Bob Smith Auto Electrician, and then finds the website and gets whatever information they were after. But we suspect the searcher had to know that Bob Smith Auto Electrician did actually exist before doing the search – not as result of the search.

So if you can find a domain name that is in a reasonably well searched area by Google users that is consistent with what the business does, and doesn’t have huge competition – it is a great start to an internet marketing strategy.

Next post – blogs and domain names
Your business buddies

Marshall and Gary