Strategies That Will Grow Your Business Online – Part 1
More and more businesses are moving traditional processes online in the aim to create more efficient models for servicing their customers. The Web offers unlimited potential to businesses that are willing to embrace its ability to transform the means by which we define ‘doing business’ in today’s hyper-competitive online space.
The popularity of search engines as the ‘first step’ in locating a business for services or products is growing expeonentially and having a latest and greatest website means squat if potetial customers cannot find your website online. SEO and online marketing specialists have been preaching the importance of ‘being found online’ for years and anybody with experience managing a business website will vouch that it’s no good having that great website if it’s off the radar. So how can you boost your businesses online potential to get found?
Focusing your energy on designing and implementing a full circle online marketing strategy can result in limitless possibilities of business growth our modern world, and I am going to discuss today some of the key strategies that can help you boost your buiness online.
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Through The Eye Glass – Google AdWords’ Traffic Estimator
If you are considering investing either time, money or both into an online marketing or SEO campaign, one of the first steps we advise you to consider completing is to assess and measure the potential rewards of optimising your website for a set of keywords. The reason why this step is so important is that before you start investing is an often time consuming, labor intensive and often expensive strategy to boost your businesses online traffic, why not gain some insurance that your selected keywords will yield the results you are seeking.
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Kick-Start your SEO knowledge with Google’s Search Engine Optimisation Guide
Back in November 2008, Google found themselves asked often at conferences or in the Webmaster Help Group, “What are some simple ways that I can improve my website’s performance in Google?”
Of course there are multiple answers to this question, and a wealth of search engine optimisation information available on the web, however there is so much that it can be intimidating people who are not web veterans, newer webmasters or those unfamiliar with the topic. Fortunately Google thought it would be useful to create a compact guide that lists some best practices that teams within Google and external webmasters alike can follow that could improve their sites’ crawlability and indexing.
We’ve created a simple mind map of what the SEO guide covers:
Download The Alaress SEO Mindmap
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Using Google Maps To Boost Your Website Traffic
Unless you’ve been locked away for the past few years, no doubt you will have heard, used or possibly integrated a website with Google Maps. Another world class web application created by Google that some say is a masterpiece of mapping handed down from the Google gods to the people. Well I’m not sure about the this, however used wisely this is an invaluable tool to business owners with a limited online marketing budget.
Google maps originally started out as yet another mapping and navigation tool. A website which you enter your location, destination and BAM out spit the directions. It turned out however to be much more powerful than the existing mapping utilities and the advanced JavaScript functionality utilised in Gogole maps set this web application ahead of the rest. Further, Google’s intelligent search algorithm has made it so simple for users to use when attempting to locate potential suppliers and businesses offering services locally.
Google Maps is opening the doors of many businesses by enabling them to be found in organic search results by users searching locally for their key services and products. In some cases, businesses that are not search engine optimised are still achieving rank 1 positions in the SERPs for searches containing their services and locality. This is driving qualified traffic to their websites and businesses for free that they otherwise would simple not have had access to.
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The Right Keywords For Your Business. Make Or Break
Sticks and stones may break our bones, however failing to research and select the right keywords for your website will really hurt your business’ chances to succeed online. In this article I take a close look at a real life example of what can happen if keyword selection if left to the client or an inexperienced web developer and how to avoid getting it wrong.
A Typical Instance Of When Things Can Go Wrong.
A friend approached me recently requesting some feedback on a proposed search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy for their new website which had been commissioned to a web design company not long ago. The pitch this web company made in order to win the web development contract leveraged off a proposed SEO strategy that would be included in the launch of the new website. The client however was concerned that the web agency wasn’t following through on the SEO in their execution.
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Website Copywriting, Is It Worth It?
Through many years working with a diverse range on SME clients in the website creation process I have learned in order to deliver successful web solutions, professional copywriting is a very valuable asset when managed correctly.
If you have been involved with web development before you will have probably heard the question “Who is going to be in charge of producing the copy and content for this website”?
In the initial discussions with a client it is crucial that the question of content creation is raised and answered before it’s too late.
So often the answer from the business owner is “Well I am going to be in charge of this”.
Generally the most qualified to produce the required content for a website is the owner of the business who lives and breathes the company. They know their customers, target markets and competitors best. They can even supply the initial keywords in most instances (albeit based on no research or analysis). No one knows better what their customers are looking for, how best to sell their products and services and what terminology is spoken in their industry?
There are however far more important questions that must be asked. Does the business owner:
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How Does One Start A Blog
Welcome to The Web Nut.
For those whom I am not yet acquainted, my name is Sean Richards. I was born and reside in Melbourne, Australia and am the joint director of a small yet successful web design company named Alaress.
Since the early age of five, I have possessed, worked on, programmed, learned from and grown with a computer. Since the birth of the web, I have immersed myself in the online space and it’s my great pleasure now to witness the Internet rapidly integrate with society on a level not many people could foresee happening. I strongly believe that this is only the beginning and that technology is going to really shine through and become an integral part of evolution within my lifetime.
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