You’ve probably received dozens of unsolicited emails and phone calls from so called SEO experts promising to get you the first position in Google. But just what is good and bad SEO in 2019?

WHAT IS SEO?

SEO is Search Engine Optimisation. It’s the practice of improving your chances of ranking well in the search engines and because Google is the most used search engine in Australia, that’s the one I’ll be talking about today.

We put a lot of thought into it, but it only takes Google machines a nano-second to decide which website to put at the top.

Google want relevance because they want you to be happy with the results they serve up to you. If you’re not happy, you’ll eventually switch to a different search engine.

Google don’t really comment much on SEO or on how to rank well, as they don’t really like people to “manipulate” the search results.

In the past they’ve made huge changes to their algorithms to stop people doing just that. This is good and bad.

It’s good if you’re doing everything right (read on to find out what that means), but it can be bad if in the past you’ve implemented what Google (now) say to be “bad”.

The biggest change happened early in 2011 with Google’s Panda update. This update affected many low-quality websites, including directory websites.

Google realised people were leaving in droves because the search results were full of sales page websites and directories. Annoying right?

People come to Google with a problem to solve and they want it solved with a few clicks.

BAD SEO

Bad SEO can cause big problems for your ranking in Google and for your business.

Poor Google ranking equals little to no leads coming from your website. We have a joke about this – Where’s the best place to hide a body? On the second page of Google, because no one ever goes there (boom-tish).

But it’s no joke if you’ve invested good money on a website and you don’t get a return on it. It can end up being, at best, just a digital brochure that only gets seen by your mum and people you send the link to.

Worst scenario – your website is just nowhere to be found on Google. Or it’s on page 33…if you have the patience to click through that far.

This is often referred to as a “Google Penalty”.

The best way to know if Google has penalised your website is to see what happens when you type your website name into the Google search bar, with spaces and without .com.au and you may need to type your suburb in too if you’re in a competitive business.

If there’s another business higher up than yours, there’s a good chance your website has been penalised by Google.

HOW DID YOU GET BAD SEO?

If you have ever used an SEO company that was cheap and cheerful and offered lots of backlinks, then that’s probably how you ended up with bad SEO. A backlink, by the way, is just what it says it is, a link from one website back to your website.

Mostly these SEO companies do low quality backlinking from “link farms” or sites setup just to house backlinks. Usually there’s little to no content, and what little content there is never relates to your business or industry.

These link farms are generally not in Australia and are very often not English. Other low-quality links are to comments added to blogs. Usually, it’s not at all related to your business or industry and the comment is either broken English or just garbled words that make no sense at all.

But, of course, a low Google ranking doesn’t always mean your site has been penalised. It could just be you’ve never put the time or money into making sure your website ranks well.

Or, conversely, you might be one of the lucky ones – in a sought-after niche that’s not very competitive. Sadly, that’s rarely the case. Most of us need to actively nurture and improve our websites so we stay front and centre for our ideal client and make the most of the ever-changing online world.

WHAT GOOGLE WANTS (GOOD SEO)

SEO in 2019 has to be quality because Google machine learning and AI is getting better and better. You can read more about AI & Machine Learning in my blog post here.

The Google AI machine knows a quality link from a bad link, it knows where the website (or blog) is, what language it is in and what the subject or purpose of it is.

And, most importantly, it’s making a judgement of YOUR website too based on the quality of the sites linking back to you AND it’s making this judgment in a split second each and every time someone searches for a service or product like yours.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SEO.

SEO falls into two main categories:

• On Page SEO
• Off Page SEO

On Page SEO.
As the name suggests, it’s the SEO on your website (or page/s). The most important things to get right are:

• structure (this is a big one)
• relevance
• keywords
• meta data
• grammar and spelling
• word count
• readability
• images
• speed (another big one)
• internal and external linking
• User Experience (UX)
• your address (this is critical if you are a local business), and
• much more besides.

Off Page SEO.

This is the stuff that happens off your website, backlinks are an important component of off page SEO. Good quality backlinks will have a positive impact on your website (just like bad links have a negative impact).

There are many things that can be done off page to help Google understand (and like) your offering and, in turn, help potential clients find your website.

• Strategic content marketing and blogging (this is a big one).
• Guest posts on high quality blogs or news sites (think Flying Solo, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post). Start small and build up.
• Have influencers in your niche mention you and link back to your website – but you have to build the relationship first.
• Get positive media.
• Contribute to quality forums on subjects related to your niche.
• List your business on relevant, quality directories – free and paid.
• Optimise your Google My Business (GMB) listing with more text, images, video etc…
• Strategic social media linking back to your website.
• Rinse and repeat – over and over.

How do you know if an SEO “expert” is legit or not?

• Do they have a real email address – ending with an actual domain name, or is it @gmail, @hotmail or @someotherfreeemailservice? This is a real giveaway – if they don’t have a real email address, then send it straight to spam.
• If they do have a real email address from a real domain – Google search it, DO NOT click on any links (just to be sure).
• What happens when you do Google search their name? Does it appear at the top? Does it appear at all?
• Are they based in Australia? Do they have an actual business presence in Australia?
• Do they offer a strategy session so they can learn about your needs and your business?
• Are they even interested in what you do and how you do it?
• Are they cheap and cheerful? Good SEO is not cheap. If you are not sure, then divide their monthly fee by 30 and ask yourself if you can buy any other service, with that amount of money per day.

Online Influence can help you with “good” SEO. We can also help fix your “bad” SEO. Take advantage of our free strategy session by filling in the form above, or give us a call today and we’ll have a chat about how we can help you.

My last blog post grappled with the definition of content marketing and why it’s such a useful tool.

It also briefly touched on who uses it. The conclusion I offered up was pretty much an awful lot of businesses use good content marketing – and certainly all the smart ones.

Today, I want to give you some examples of good content marketing giants. I’ll also talk you through the different types of content you can use, and the avenues to deliver them to your audience.

A century of success

Content marketing is no new kid on the block.

Whatever country you’re in, you’ll find great examples of long running successful content marketing campaigns – John Deere’s iconic publication, The Furrow, in the US and France’s Michelin Guide are two that spring to mind.

A good Australian example, and one that will be familiar to many in NSW, is the NRMA.

In 1920, The National Roads Association (as the NRMA was then known) launched its Good Roads Journal. The magazine’s name was changed to Open Road in 1927.

NRMA members still receive their bi-monthly copy. According to the source, it’s full of “the latest news on motoring issues, road safety rules, the best and most trusted car reviews and some fantastic travel ideas for exploring Australia and beyond”. It also includes special offers, discounts and other member benefits.

They don’t have to do it right? The articles don’t directly promote their core business of roadside assistance and insurance, but it’s clever way to connect with their audience and position their brand as a trusted source of useful information.

In my last blog, I mentioned that the best content is educational, inspirational and aspirational.

Open Road ticks all the boxes. A road-trip to a stunning destination in an independently reviewed vehicle anyone?

Who’s doing it online, and doing it well?

But, of course, today, most content marketing happens online.

The digital world is a match made in heaven for content marketing. This is because of its reach, its possibilities and interconnectedness.

Popular active wear brand Lorna Jane is one inspirational example.

The brand has a stand-alone content hub in its website Move Nourish Believe  – a phrase which encapsulates the Lorna Jane values and ethos.

While it’s increasingly common for businesses to manage content on a separate site in this way, the lesson here is in the nature of the content and how it’s distributed.

The website doesn’t directly promote Lorna Jane, rather it includes articles on lifestyle topics that reflect the brand’s values. This includes healthy eating, motivation and natural skincare. It also includes forums, videos, recipes and events and offers a free Lorna Jane iPhone app to track activity through the day.

Again, educational, inspirational and aspirational.

And Lorna Jane’s success is reflected in data that points to impressive Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest buy in.

Content marketing vehicles and mediums

Which brings us to the “where” and “what” of good content marketing.

For the “where”, take a look at the list above and add your website and LinkedIn.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Website
• YouTube
• Tumblr
• Instagram
• Pinterest

As for the “what”, blog posts are the most common type of content marketing, but there’s much, much more you can do to for good content marketing..

• Webpages. Obvious right? But the difference between a good and bad site is huge, and to have an effective platform for content marketing your site has to be good.
• White papers and ebooks are increasingly popular, and ebooks (or good old fashioned paper books for that matter) can provide a great stream of revenue while simultaneously strengthening your brand.
• Videos and Vodcasts can be published on your website or your YouTube channel. When you consider YouTube has over a billion users it makes sense to give it a go.
• Infographics are a clever way to share statistics, charts, graphs and other information in a pictorial way. Pinterest offers possibilities here.
• Case studies can be inspirational and show your audience just how they can benefit from your services or product.
• Podcasts can be shared from your website or through vehicles like iTunes. They have the potential to put your business in front of a whole new audience.
• Free apps that are valuable to your audience and strengthen your brand can buy loyalty.
• Quizzes are a fun way to engage with your subscribers and inspire them to “like” and “share”.
• Email newsletters are a way to re-engage with your customer base and to deepen your relationship with them.
• Things like “Our top 10 tips” are fun, easy and quick to read and can help your audience navigate their way through a topic or decision.
• How-to guides can be invaluable – especially for small business owners or those looking to start their own business.
• Webinars are streamed online. They’re a great way to share useful information and create a sense of community.
• Q&A’s are an easy way to offer your knowledge and skills up to your audience.
• Surveys can help you find out what people want from your business and how they want you to communicate with them.
• Interviews with other experts in your field or from related industries, shared on your website or through a podcast, give your audience valuable information.
• Public speaking and presentations are another way to reach an audience – sure it will be smaller than online, but this direct contact can have much more impact.

And, of course, traditional mediums like magazines and journals sent through snail mail are still effective – the NRMA wouldn’t still be sending out the Open Road if it didn’t work.

What’s right for your business?

In my next post, I’ll talk about what it takes to create great content before looking at how to create a content marketing strategy.

HOWEVER, before you start generating content, it’s a good idea to nut out what mediums will work best for you. This will vary depending on the nature of your business and your skills.

My advice is usually to start with a blog and go from there. Learn everything you can about the benefits of each medium and then do what will work best for you.

If you’re unsure, the team at Online Influence can advise you on the benefits of each option and the right fit for your business.

Contact us 

What is Content Marketing?

“Content marketing is any marketing that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire customers. This information can be presented in a variety of formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, infographics, case studies, how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, etc.”

Content marketing is a very valuable business tool – it’s also a huge topic to cover in one blog post.

Because of this, I’m writing a series of blogs to lead you through the basics and to point you in the right direction if you want to dive deeper.
As Julie Andrews (or more correctly, Sister Maria) suggests, “let’s start at the very beginning”. Why? “It’s a very good place to start”.

So, what is content marketing?

Ask Google and you’ll receive this definition:

noun

a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.

Which is true, but there’s much more to content marketing than that.

What the definition neglects, is that this super effective business tool predates the online world and it really is all about promoting your brand. Not implicitly in terms of sales, but in terms of how your audience thinks and feels about you and your brand.

Content Marketing is a way to engage & inform your potential client or customer, before they meet you and without selling to them. When you deliver relevant information to your ideal client, they will ultimately reward you with their business. It’s a valuable tool in building the know, like & trust factor. Strategic content marketing is one of the best ways to improve your website and improve it’s rankings in Google.

Content marketing involves:

• distributing regular free, relevant and valuable content across a range of mediums to a target audience,
• keeping your audience engaged with you and your brand (think loyal subscribers),
• inspiring your audience to share your content with their networks (hello Facebook!), and
• embedding the “ideals” and “ethics” you want associated with your brand.

It’s an ideal way to achieve the “know, like and trust” trinity.

And, if you do it well, you’ll turn potential customers into eager customers who give you their repeat business and encourage their friends to do the same.

Content marketing from a different angle

Another way to get a handle on the meaning of content marketing is to look at what it isn’t.

• It is NOT direct sales.
• It is NOT one piece of content.
• It is NOT a brochure.
• It is NOT an advertisement – that is, something that interrupts the content your audience actually wants.
• It is NOT directly telling people about your product or implicitly promoting your brand.

Who uses content marketing?

According to the Content Marketing Institute,  around 88% of B2B marketers use content marketing. While it’s hard to know how many businesses overall use this strategy, it’s probably safe to guess the answer is A LOT. Content marketing is an effective strategy for businesses big and small and for all business owners, young and old. Whether you have a shop front, a market stall or operate purely online, you can use content marketing to grow your business.

Why is content marketing so important?

Good content marketing really does work.

And the great thing about online content marketing, in particular, is that if you do it right your audience will take over and do some the work for you.

What does that mean? Well, while you may need to pay for someone to create some great content and initially use paid distribution channels to drive people

to your content, once you generate a following, you’ll get a natural flow of customers through email, social media and direct traffic.

Of course, to generate a following, you need good content and a good content marketing strategy – something I’ll go into more detail in my next couple of posts.

What’s the difference between good and bad content marketing?

Good content marketing is easy to spot.

• Subscribers anticipate the arrival of good content.
• Audiences enjoy the content and apply its information to their lives and/or business practices.
• Great content marketing inspires subscribers to share your content through their networks.
• The flow on from good content marketing is more customers and customer recommendations.
• Good content marketing is reflected in good data.

Perhaps most importantly, good content marketing is educational, inspirational, and aspirational.

Bad content marketing is, um, the opposite of all of the above.

Ask your self these questions:

• What blogs do I subscribe to?
• Whose YouTube channel do I haunt?
• Which websites do I head to when you want to know “how to”?
• Whose content makes me laugh, inspires me or makes me aspire to reach for more?

Take a deeper look at these sources and you’ll find people that have good content and a good content marketing strategy in place. After all, they’ve got your attention and loyalty.

Still unsure?

While you might know what you like, it can sometimes be hard to recognise why it works so well. Even if you get why it’s got you hooked, you still might be unsure about how to achieve similar results.

Never fear! You’ll find inspiration in my next blog in which I’ll give you examples of businesses who are content marketing champions. I’ll give you lots of examples of what kind of content works and where you can share it.

And if all else fails, ask an expert.

The team at Online Influence can help. We’re happy to have a chat to you, to talk through the possibilities and guide you to content marketing success.

Contact us today, on 02 9199 2228 or 02 4724 9555.

In this post I want to tackle  what makes a good blog from a technical point of view and from a less techie perspective. If you want to have your blog read, shared and commented on it’s important to make it relevant and interesting.

So, how do you actually write a good blog post?

Two ways to blog

There are two main types of blogs:

• The original classic style blogging, as seen in  the movie Julie & Julia (with Meryl Streep), Julie Powell blogged about cooking and her struggles as a writer – she decided to cook and blog her way through Julia Child’s iconic cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. She cooked and blogged about all 524 recipes over 365 days. It’s a true story!  Julie’s blog became so popular that it caught the attention of a Hollywood producer and the rest is history. If you want to know what makes a good blog I highly recommend you watch this movie. Julie’s blog was the classic style of blogging, it’s like recording a log – web-log – blog. You have probably also read many blogs just like this.
• Blogging for your business is different to Julie’s blogging. Blogging for business is also known as “Content Management”.  This is the type of blogging I’m referring to in this post.

Why should you blog about your business?

• Google loves blogs because they deliver readers fresh, new, relevant content.
• Since the arrival of Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird (the names Google gave their updates), it’s getting harder for us SEO providers to get your business on the front page of Google.
• Providing new and interesting content for your blog, not only pleases Google but it pleases your readers, and this in turn pleases Google.

Where do you start?

Writing doesn’t come naturally to most of us and many of us are just procrastinators, but trust me once you give it a go you will feel very pleased with yourself. Blogging is a great way to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

‘Where do I start?’ I hear you say. Consider these simple tips on what makes a good blogging experience. First of all you need to get back to basics. You need to know who your readers are and what they want. To get you started, try this exercise:

• Start with a fresh sheet of paper
• Create an avatar of your ideal client
  • Are they male or female? (or both)
  • What age bracket are they?
  • What income bracket are they?
  • Do they have children? If so, how old are they?
  • What keeps them awake at night?
  • What problem/s can you solve for them?
  • Keep expanding on this list, you need as much info as possible
  • Make sure you have a clear solution to their problem
  • Make sure this solution is very obvious on your website – in fact it should be the basis of your website. Everything on your website and blog should be telling the reader that you can solve this problem.
  • Knowing this and delivering this is what makes a good blog.

What to actually blog about 

This where you need to be strategic. There is no benefit in blogging just for the sake of blogging. You need a plan and it needs to be relevant. So grab another piece of paper or open a spread-sheet.

Start by listing all of the things you do in your business that you could blog about. For example some of the things we do in my business is:

• Getting leads for your website
• Optimising your website
• Website creation
• Fixing badly structured websites
• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
• Google Advertising
• Facebook Advertising
• Blogging for Business

From this list of 8 blog posts; create at least 4 sub-topics for each one. So far we have 32 potential blog posts.
From each sub-topic, create at least 2 more sub-topics. Now we have 104 possible blog post topics.
Next think about the media –

• You could also make some videos about these topics.? An iPhone and a good mic is all you need.
• You could also interview someone else (another expert in your field) about these topics.? Again an iPhone and a good mic is all you need. These could then be turned into a podcast and/or a video series.
• Each of these videos and interviews could be transcribed and turned into written blog posts.

So from an initial list of 8 business components we now have a massive 728 potential blog posts.

The next post will be part two of – What makes a good blog – part two

If you need help with your content management (blogging) – give me a call and I’m happy to have a chat.

Let’s talk tech – SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

So now you know what to blog about, let’s get into the technical side of blogging.

• A golden rule – “One keyword per post/page”
• When I say keyword I don’t just mean one word – very rarely will it be one word. A good keyword can sometimes be 4 -5 words long, but usually it’s 2– 4 words long.
• Over time, your pages or posts will probably rank for other words in the copy too.
• Organise your blog by using categories and tags. Think of categories like isles in the supermarket e.g. the cooking isle, and tags as items in the isle e.g. spices and sauces. Finally keywords are the specific item e.g. “Uncle Bob’s sauce”.
• Use the keyword in the blog/page title – it can have other words either side, but don’t break up the keyword/s here.
• Use the keyword in the first paragraph
• Use it every 300-500 words, but make it natural.
• Use sub-headings using variations of the keyword/s.
• Always use an image and re-name the image using the keyword.
• Use alt-tags for images – this is the name that pops up when you hover on an image. Google reads this and can often rank these images in the search results (try it now – hover over the image in this post, you will see What makes a good blog.)
• Create links between other relevant pages/posts and use keywords as the anchor text. This tells Google and the reader, that you have other posts about this topic, and points to where it is.
• There are other more Geekie things that should be part of your blog structure. If you are not sure what these are, get in touch with me and I will be happy to review your blog.

How to actually write a good blog post…

Okay, so we’ve covered why you should blog, what you should blog about and the technical (SEO) part of what makes a good blog. Now let’s dig into how to actually write the blog posts.

• Write so that an eleven-year-old child can read it. This doesn’t mean you have to “dumb it down” but make it very easy for anyone to read it and don’t use Jargon.
• I like to use this simple acronym P O W E R
  • Pick a topic – use a “think sheet” to write down ideas.
  • Organise- group your ideas, number them in the order you want to write them and cross out ideas you won’t use.
  • Write – put the facts into sentences, adding bullet points, headings and paragraphs.
  • Edit – read your work out loud or to a friend.
  • Re-write until you are happy that your blog post delivers enough valuable information that your readers will share it and comment on it.

• Now read it one last time to make sure you haven’t “over used” the keyword. Use the search bar in MSWord to check how often you have used it (3% is a good rule of thumb). Anymore and Google will consider it “keyword stuffing” and sites that do this are “frowned upon” by Google.
• Just have a go.

I hope this helps you navigate the confusing world of blogging and I hope it helps you understand what makes a good blog. The most important point is the last one above – “Just have a go”. The first blog is always the hardest but it’s a rewarding journey if you persevere.

This is part two of a two part blog post – Read What makes a good Blog – part one

How do you like to write? I’d love you to share your hints and tips. 

Because many companies and consultants today are offering search optimization services, it is important for a business owner to carefully choose the right expert with whom to work. Here are the top seven things to look for in an SEO company before deciding to use its services:

Because things change regularly in the world of SEO – this article has been edited to reflect Google’s ongoing updates (see 7a – d & 8 below). I will come back and edit this regularly, if you like our Facebook page  you will keep up with the the latest in the world of SEO. 

1. Good track record. It is always more preferable to work with an SEO company which has a good reputation for delivering high quality services and positive results. A business owner should also ensure that the SEO firm does not have a record of employing black hat search engine tactics.

2. Depth of knowledge. Depth of knowledge should also be considered because consultants who fail to deliver tend to disappear when they don’t deliver results. Working with a consultant who can demonstrate up to the minute knowledge of current trends is important.

3. Availability of customer/technical support whenever needed. It is always preferable to work with an SEO company which has a quick system for assisting customer needs and technical concerns. Help should be available when needed so that possible glitches and issues can be given instant attention.

4. List of satisfied clients. Looking at the list of clients of an SEO firm will give assurance to a business owner that the company he wants to work with is a stable one. Very often, an SEO firm will showcase their services by letting potential clients know who they have worked with in the past. In the event that this information is not available, a business owner should do some research regarding the SEO company using online and offline sources.

5. Overwhelming amount of unsolicited positive reviews and testimonials. Social proof is a strong indicator that a company is strong, stable, and well-known for delivering top notch services. Testimonials and unbiased positive reviews can easily be searched for online.

6. Great value on a starter package. Different SEO companies offer different SEO starter packages. The business owner should carefully evaluate the various SEO starter packages offered and must choose the one that fits current business needs. An ideal starter package should contain content production services, keyword research, online distribution, and basic website optimization.

7. Wide range of SEO services. Aside from a good starter package, an SEO company should be able to provide other search engine optimization services such as building backlinks, website re-structuring, and recommending other search engine marketing solutions to clients.

a. Check out the SEO company’s website. If they have broken links (links that land on a “404 Page not Found” page) and and poor navigation etc, it could mean they don’t really understand the importance of “on-page” SEO. If the Google bots are confused & frustrated by hitting dead ends, they will (rightly) assume the readers are too and will not rank the site well.

b. Check out the URL’s – are they easy to read? URL’s are important in the world of SEO if they are clean & concise, they help the Google bots and the reader to work out where they are & what the subject is. E.g. URL’s with numbers in them, or words like index.php etc? (URL is the address of each page on a website – you find them at the top of your browser).

c. Check out the “About” page. Do they tell you who they are and where they are?  Is there any photos of the business owners and their staff? If not, why not? If an SEO company doesn’t want you to know who they really are or where they are located, don’t do business with them. The same goes for any business online. This is part of the social proof we all want online – it helps to build the “know, like & trust”. You can’t know, like or trust a business that won’t say who they are or where they are.

d. Is the website slow to load and giving you mixed messages? Like “page not found” and  “your shopping cart is empty” (when you didn’t even know they had one) and flash images and old outdated technology, like moving images that take ages to display or move.

8. Finally, do they keep you up to date with the latest changes from Google? Are they willing to educate their clients with workshops and/or online training? I know not everyone wants to know the nitty gritty of SEO, but you should be given the option of doing some it yourself if you wish to.

If you want to increase your rankings in Google get in touch with Trish and the team on 1300 199 757 or email us here

Many offline business owners hesitate to hire the services of an SEO expert because of a preconceived notion that search engine optimization is expensive and time consuming. But the truth is that SEO allows an offline business to promote with lesser cost and quicker results than traditional marketing methods. Here are the benefits and advantages of hiring a professional search engine marketer:

• Hiring an SEO expert provides ultimate leverage for the business owner. Because the average offline entrepreneur does not possess savvy internet promotion skills, it is better to outsource the task to someone who is more familiar with implementing SEO campaigns. Various tasks such as keyword research, website structuring, on-page and off-page optimization, and content distribution, may seem overwhelming to an offline business owner. On the other hand, a consultant who is skilled in search engine optimization can fulfill those tasks on an ongoing basis to generate more traffic for a business.

• SEO consultants are able to provide strategies for overcoming the competition. The main advantage of implementing SEO strategies is that only a small percentage of offline businesses are using search engine marketing techniques to promote their products or services. This presents an opportunity for companies who implement SEO because it will give them an edge over their competitors. If many websites within a particular industry are competing for the top spot in Google, an SEO expert can also present solutions and recommendations for beating the competition.

• SEO experts help provide regular organic traffic to a company website. The term “organic traffic” means that website visitors are naturally finding their way to a business website by using particular search phrases. SEO consultants are highly skilled at generating organic traffic. They know which keyword phrases are being searched for by their target market. They know how to build a website in such a way that the search engines can find it rapidly to be included in top search results. In the long run, customers who are generated from SEO campaigns tend to be more loyal and determined buyers than those generated from other means.

The professional fee of an SEO expert can be game-changing investment for businesses, big and small. It could take a novice months, even years, to learn the internet marketing techniques needed to accomplish online traffic results, but hiring a professional SEO consultant will help a business owner experience measurable results reflected in sales and profit.

One of the main misconceptions about search engine optimisation is that it is merely a strategy for internet based businesses. The truth is, there are many opportunities for offline businesses in specific cities to get local customers through the use of effective SEO. Penrith, for example, is a big city full of potential clients for any business, in any industry. If a particular business is located in Penrith, launching an SEO Penrith campaign targeted towards the people living there may be a good strategy for building brand awareness and encouraging repeat store visits.

Through proper use of SEO, Penrith residents can easily find the location of a business or enterprise, be it a restaurant, dental clinic, coffee shop, or local bar. Business offices which are located in obscure streets can now be accessed conveniently by potential customers as they surf online and type the right search keywords. Here are some ways by which local businesses can reach prospects in their area through search engine marketing:

1. Make use of nearby city landmarks to reach potential prospects. If the business establishment is located near a famous city landmark like the Nepean River, a good SEO strategy for a cafe would be to use a keyword such as “coffee shops near Nepean River” in an online search engine marketing campaign. This way, tourists and local residents who are looking for coffee shops in that specific area can easily find the company information online.

2. Discover what people in a specific city are searching for online. For more effective SEO, Penrith based entrepreneurs should perform keyword research to find out what keywords are being searched for by their target market. Free keyword research tools, like the Google Keyword Tool, generate keyword suggestions and give insight to the marketer about the monthly search volume of a particular keyword. By simply typing a popular local keyword in the Google Keyword Tool, such as “restaurants in Penrith” or “Penrith dental clinics”, a marketer or business owner will be able to see other related keyword suggestions pertaining to the local market.

3. Hire the services of a local SEO Sydney consultant or firm. Often it is better to leverage the expertise of people who specialise in search engine optimisation. This way, a business owner can focus on important management tasks and maintaining day to day business operations, instead of spending a lot of time on link building, structuring a website, and producing content. When it comes to SEO, Penrith based businesses should hire a reliable SEO consultant or expert to gain more market exposure.

One of the biggest challenges faced by local businesses is promoting their products or services to a targeted group of people within a specific area. In an effort to reach potential customers, most business owners usually resort to traditional advertising, such as print, radio, and word of mouth. However, the internet presents a better alternative for promoting a local business, and it is through search engine optimization. Sydney based businesses can now create their own company website and then optimize it for search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

Through search engine optimization, Sydney residents and potential customers can easily be targeted in a marketing campaign. This provides more opportunities for local offline businesses to penetrate the market within their nearby vicinity, without paying for expensive advertising and marketing campaigns.

Here are some of the top reasons why search engine optimization is more cost-effective and convenient compared to the more traditional advertising methods:

• Wider Reach. Businesses with search engine optimized websites have the potential to reach more customers in their market, compared to those who still rely on outdated marketing tactics and advertising practices.

• Easier Customer Access To Business Information. Buyers and shoppers tend to compare prices and quality of products by “shopping” around and looking for possible items to buy. Instead of physically going to malls and stores to compare brands and prices, a consumer can instead browse the web and type search phrases like “best jewellery store in Sydney”. If there is a business website optimized for that search phrase, it will appear in search results and will easily be accessed by the consumer.

• Long-Term Results. Traditional advertising usually offers a fixed timeframe for promotion. But with search engine optimization, Sydney based business websites can receive a regular stream of traffic for many months and years to come. SEO is a “set and forget” strategy which allows business owners to leverage the power of search engines in order to attract more customers.

Through effective implementation of search engine optimization, Sydney business owners can increase the number of people who are familiar with their products or services.

There are two ways by which a local business owner can start implementing SEO campaigns.

The first is to personally learn search engine marketing techniques. This can be time consuming because of the learning curve involved; the second way is to hire the services of an SEO consultant to professionally and immediately implement search engine optimization strategies for an offline business.

Just because a business is “offline” doesn’t necessarily mean that it cannot promote its products and services on the internet. In fact, many traditional businesses like restaurants, coffee shops, accounting firms, dental clinics, manufacturing firms and countless others are using online marketing tactics to reach their target customers.

Here are the most effective online marketing techniques that anyone can use to generate an ongoing stream of leads, prospects and customers from the internet:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is a process, or a set of targeted activities, which aim to increase the search engine rankings of a website in a given niche or industry. The higher the rankings of a website, the more online visitors it will receive (which eventually leads to more sales and profit). There are various aspects of SEO that online business owners should understand in order to succeed in this particular strategy:

• Keyword research. This is the act or process of discovering which keyword phrases are being searched for by a target market on Google or Yahoo. In SEO, a business owner pays attention to popular search phrases with a high amount of traffic stats per month. SEO campaigns are based on main keyword phrases (and other related keywords) in a given niche or industry.

• On-Page optimization. This refers to optimizing a particular website for higher search engine rankings by tweaking or adjusting certain elements within the website itself. Putting main keywords on the title, description, meta tags, and body of the webpage content is an example of on-page optimization.

• Off-page Optimization. This refers to SEO activities which are done outside a business website. Activities such as increasing the number of external links to a website (also called backlinks), and blasting SEO content in key internet channels, are prime examples of off-page optimization.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)

Aside from SEO, another effective online marketing strategy is pay-per-click advertising (PPC). This is a form of advertising where the business owners create short ads which will be shown and served in various content networks all over the web. Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing are examples of online platforms who offer pay-per-click programs. Basically, this form of advertising is cost-effective because advertisers will only pay for each click that they receive from their ads.

Just like SEO, PPC requires the business owner to perform keyword research before starting any online marketing campaign because all PPC ads are keyword based. Generally, popular keywords in a given niche or industry will entail a higher cost for the advertiser, while not so popular keywords will cost less per click.