I love this ad not just because of how Google search has been responsble for the ‘democratisation’ of the internet (so even the little guys can win)…

But also because of the way that the ad gets to the very heart of what they do: SEARCH.  And what makes them the masters of the universe.

Getting your message out so that visitors to your website immediately understand what it is that you do is overlooked more than you might think!  Check out the video below.

Google and Your Internet Marketing Strategy

We know that Google search is king the number one most visited website in New Zealand.  According to Hitwise, 7.75% of all internet traffic heads to Google.

We also know that Google is becoming an interwoven part of people’s lives.  Like in the video it can influence what we do and how we do it…in very profound ways.

But What Does That Mean if You’re A Business Owner?

If you’re a business owner then it’s easy to just imagine that getting to the top of Google will solve all your problems.  We face this all the time with our clients.  High Google rankings aint the goal!  The goal is an increase in enquiries that leads to an increase in sales – right?

So to achieve that it takes what most web designers can’t provide…Online Strategy.

What is Online Strategy?

Online or Internet Marketing Strategy is the online battleplan or blueprint that takes into account how you will compete with and win against your competitors.

There are a lot of factors that need to be thought about when it comes to internet marketing strategy.  They include:

• What are your overall business goals?
• What are your potential customers looking for online and in what numbers?
• What are your competitors doing online and how can we defeat them?
• How can we improve traffic (visitors) and not just rankings?
• How can we improve ‘conversion’ on the website so that we can measure the return on investment?
• How can we achieve your goals in the best way without wasting time and money?

Plus more.

Winning online is not about SEO, it’s about strategy.  It’s about planning the right things and executing that plan in the right way to achieve your goals so that you can SELL MORE STUFF.

I hope this makes sense.  If you would like to know more about how we can develop an internet marketing strategy for you so you can get your business in front of hungry customers who are using Google and looking for what you can sell, please contact us for a confidential discussion.

Thank you for reading this.

Regards,

Rhys Coffin
Internet Marketing Strategist
CEO, Internet New Zealand Ltd

E: rhys@internetnewzealand.com
M: 021 33 5586

Internet Marketing

Dear Business Owner or Manager,

You might have seen the following formula floating around this website:  Online Success = R + (T x C).

It’s not meant to be rocket surgery.  It’s easy to understand and makes complete sense once you understand it.  It’s short for: Online Success = Rankings + (Traffic x Conversion)

Let me explain what it means:

For a website to achieve high Rankings in search engines in your chosen category or niche must have the right architecture.  It needs to be built in a certain way that sends a clear message to the web crawlers about exactly what your site is about.  We call this concept ‘relevance’ and it’s one of the most important aspects of achieving good SEO rankings.

As well as this there are other important factors like back-linking (getting other sites to link to you) and other off and on-page SEO factors, but we know now that relevance and what we call ‘theming’ are critical factors that are affected by how your site is built.

Traffic is simply the volume of visitors that come to your website over a peiod of time.  Good SEO rankings affect traffic because there is a link between your top 10 ranking and the number of clicks to your site.  But good SEO rankings are not the only way to increase traffic.  There are other strategies like dealing with returning visitors, permission (email) marketing, microsites, integration of  social networks (like twitter) and lots more.

The measurement of how many site visitors actually take some action that you desire is called Conversion.  Success with conversion is dependent on many factors.  Some of the main ones include site aesthetics (how pretty the site is), the use of compelling words and copy, the proper placement of the site’s key features like calls-to-action, newsletter sign up, the inclusion of list-building tactics such as whitepapers or mini email courses, the placement of different elements and lots more.

How Well Do You Stack Up?

How well is your website performing right now?  If you could double or triple the number of qualified enquiries you get over a month, and it continued without rest way into the future, would that be worth contacting us for a free strategy meeting to learn more?

Remember to achieve online success, there are a number of important factors involved, and each one needs to be handled correctly, and handled well.  That’s what we do.

If you’d like to get a written report outlining some genuinely practical ideas (assuming you have a site) that you can implement immediately, as well as some strategy and options for the future, please click on the button below.

We’ll send you a short questionairre to complete and within a day or two we’ll email our findings and suggestions – without any hard-sell or obligation.

I hope this information has been useful, and look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for reading this.

Rhys Coffin
Director
Strategic SEO Specialist
Internet New Zealand Ltd

E: rhys@internetnewzealand.com

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.

If you’re a business owner or responsible for increasing customer numbers, and you don’t know much about  search engine optimisation (SEO), then you will love this article.

Here’s why:

You’ll learn about the basics of SEO (without your eyes glazing over) and get the chance to turn that undertanding into extra enquiries and extra business for you.

The internet, and particularly internet search engines like Google, now dominate the way that people interact with businesses. Just think how often you use a search engine now when you’re researching online.

SEO invoves a number of activities to do with improving the rankings of a website so that it appears as close to the top of a search engine for particular ‘keywords’. In New Zealand (as in the rest of the world, Google and Yahoo are the most popular search engines used.

There has been so much written about SEO that the mind boggles.  Since 2005 when we first started out in the SEO business things have changed so fast it’s incredible.

The Principles

But what hasn’t changed are the basic rules and philosophy of Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines.  And that is, that the goal of search engines is to HELP searchers to find what they want, fast.

I’m summarising here, but according to search engines, sites with the highest quality content that can deliver the most value and be the most relevant…will generally be seen to be the most trusted.  And being trusted wins when it comes to rankings or SERPS (Search Engine Ranking Positions).

My goal here is not to give you a run-down of everything that we’ve learned, experimented with and proven since 2005.  That would be nuts as well as an awesome cure for insomnia. If you really want to learn the ins and outs then just Google “SEO” and knock yourself out.

For the bulk of you still reading, my goal here is simply to help you understand what SEO is and why it is becoming so important .  Next, I want  to give you a peek into what’s involved in transforming an ‘invisible’ website in SERPS  (search engine ranking pages) into a google-leading, industry-dominating, traffic-magnet that turns clicks on your website… into dollars!

And when you do start to develop your understanding, not only will you be able to sound more ‘on to it’ at your next party, but you might actually start to get excited about how you can use SEO to help you reach your goals.

Search Engines:  How Do They Work? [In Plain English]

Why is SEO Important?

When we want to find more information about something, hear about something interesting from our friends, see a compelling television commercial, or need a local mechanic, the chances are the first place we turn is the Google search box.

These days, your search strategy is your business strategy, whether you realise it or not.  Why?, because search engines are how your potential customers are trying to find you.

Search is the new Yellow Pages, Finda, 0800 number, NZ Herald, Trade Me and cash register. No matter what kind of web site you have -whether it’s a media property like a blog, an ecommerce site, or the online arm of multinational corporation, you goal is to connect with as many of your potential audience as possible.  Would you agree?

Organic search can make that happen.

And being ‘optimised’ to attract and help searchers looking for you (especially if they have never heard of your brand) is where businesses can win…assuming you engage right the knowledge and strategy.

Search Engine Friendly Websites:  Some Basics

So, let’s assume that together (your company and ours) we set out to dominate your industry online for consumers shopping for what you sell.  Our objective (after extensive market, customer and competior research) would be develop a strategy that ticked all the search engine boxes:

• A site that is highly relevant
• A site with high quality SEO copywriting content and;
• A site that delivers real value so that people naturally want to share it with others

Next, we would build from scratch or makeover your site so that it can be easily discovered by search engines so the pages can be added to the list the ‘web crawlers’ use to traverse the web.  We make sure that the right keyphrases and keywords are represented on your site.

Then we use site architecture that doesn’t introduce obstacles that make the pages inaccessible to the crawlers.  This allows all content to be presented in a way that’s extractable for search engines to index.

And finally (speaking of content), we organise and write content based on relevance in a way that allows the search engines to understand our sites theme.  “Theming” a website is critical for achieving website relevance.

Of course there are a lot more mini-steps involved and we haven’t even started to talk about ‘online conversion’ yet!

What Are Your Business Goals?

What are your business goals?  Are any of the items below relevant to you?

• Get more clients?
• Beat your competitors?
• Start other businesses or projects?
• Sell more stuff online or get more leads?
• Expand nationally or internationally?
• Get on to the NBR rich list (or back on it)?
• Set your business up so you can spend more time doing cool things with the people you love?
• End the war in the Middle East (ok, I made that on up)?

Seriously, if you have a business that provides products or services that add true value to consumers, and you want to serve as many of them as you can, then we would like to show you how we can use SEO as part of the solution to achieve this.

Thank you for reading this.

Rhys Coffin
Director
Strategic SEO Specialist
Internet New Zealand Ltd

P.S. When you request a free interview you’ll receive strategic insight into your website and company’s performance online… as well as cost-effective ideas to grow sales using SEO.

SEO Search Engine Optimisation