Multiple Domain names

There has been a rise in companies offering alternative versions of domain names. e.g. you may own www.mybusinessname.com.au. You then receive an email or letter (that commonly looks like an invoice) for www.mybusinessname.net.au. Do you really need it?

The idea is that you can have more than one domain name pointing to one website.

Reasons Why

The main reason why people buy multiple domains is protect their brand online. While some business owners go into panic mode, buying 10 + domain names, this is not needed. Sometimes it is valid to purchase a couple of domain names (e.g. the .com.au and the .com versions) to protect them from competitors however, there is no need to go overboard.

If you wanted to create a separate website to promote another area of your business, having a second domain name would be required. Avoid duplicate content (e.g. same wording) and consider the additional costs of having a second website. You may be better spending that money on promoting your main website.

One of your domain names can be used to measure the effectiveness of your advertising efforts. Also, if you have a shortened version of your domain name, it might look nicer on newspaper ads and business cards. A 'shorter' domain name may also be easier to spell or remember.

Reasons Why Not

Essentially, owning multiple domain names that all point back to the same website very rarely helps with your website's search engine performance. In some instances, it can even damage it.

“These additional domains actually provide very little benefit and in some cases can even harm your SEO campaign.” (source: http://blog.ineedhits.com).

The search engines are smarter than ever. Their job to weed out those trying to “trick” the system and reward those websites that abide by their guidelines.

Get advice from different domain name suppliers and also compare prices.

For more information you can contact Web-Sta on 0415 142 178 or visit
www.web-sta.com.au.

Adding links to your site....useful or useless?

In the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), there are sevaral techniques used to influence the search engines. Over the years, many myths have emerged, leading many SEO'ers into trying to 'trick' these search engines. Here I quickly review a couple of these of these techniques including Inbound or Outbound 'Linking'.

Inbound Links are; links from someone elses website to your own and Outbound Links are; links from your website to external websites. SOME SEO pros believe that both techniques are beneficial for better search engine ranking...

Inbound Links:

With much evidence available online, effective and quality Inbound Links can and do work. In Google's words... “In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages” (support.google.com). Creating Inbound Links (a technique also known as Link Building) makes up only part of a succesful Online Marketing Campaign however is still very influencial.

Outbound Links:

There is still an old-school thought that if you include heaps of links on your website, pointing to other people's websites, that your site will rank better. This is not the case.

Some business do provide a “helpful links” page as an added benefit for those browsing their websites. This is more for the sake of convience and perhaps trying to build credibility, however, just don't expect your website to suddenly jump up in Google, Yahoo or Bing as a result.There is no reason why you can't provide links to other local businesses that you recommend or organisations that you are a member of or support (be sure to ask for permission first just incase). There is a slight divide between SEO pros wether having TOO many Outbound Links can damage your website's performance but in the end of the day, it is all about balance and ongoing maintainence.

Daily, myself and my customers receive email requests; “Add a link to my website from your website, and you will rank better.” OR “If you link to my website, I will link back to yours and we will both rank better”. This type of two-way link is called a Reciprocal Link and considerred yet another non-effective technique if getting higher up in the search engines is your aim. “Reciprocal links are of dubious value: they are easy for an algorithm to catch and to discount.” (seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo).

Hiding links is also another No-No. Back-in-the-day, there was a technique where webmasters would create an Outbound Link or Keyword the same colour as the background colour of the page...effectively 'hiding' it from visitors to this website...the search engines are now able to detect this using colour codes – I told you the search engines are getting smarter.

Eccomerce / online shopping

In today's economic climate, more people and businesses are searching for alternative revenue streams. There are also more and more of us buying online. Put the two together and you have a massive demand of online shops.

Now, where do you start?

There are thousands of shopping cart programs and software available. It is a matter of working out/researching what features you need and are avaialable.

Here is a quick list of things you might consider:

• newsletter marketing
• easy to use for you and potential customers
• sales reports
• search engine friendly software
• slides shows
• coupon codes
• payment options
• postage options
• downloadable products
• custom design capabilities and the like.

There are heaps of cheaper (and easy to use) online shopping cart software options available online suitable for many small businesses. www.bigcommerce.com starts at $24.95 per month. They even offer a 15 day free trial.

If you are web savvy, you can also try free shopping cart software like www.zencart.com – all you need is to have a hosting account set-up (prices do vary for hosting). For those who have a Wordpress website (popular editable website platform), there are now heaps of free shopping cart plugins that you can instal yourself for free. There are usually some fees associated with Paypal or your preferred payment gateway (payment processor), however these are usually quite resonable.

Paypal also offers shopping cart solutions for business accounts. If you know a little bit about HTML, you can create your own paypal buttons for an existing website – great if you only have a small amount of products that do not change that often.

For a more professional/customisable shopping cart with heaps of options, my favourite is epages. This is what I predominately use for clients. It covers most of what small/medium business requir (and then some). While not the cheapest to set-up, the latest version is easy to update and includes many great features to assist with sales reporting, search engine optimisation, marketing and more.

This is only a snap shot of what is available with heaps of new programs emerging all of the time.

Speaking to a web designer, who offers eccomerce, or researching online is a great place to start. Most web designers can also help you design and establish your online store to get you started.

If you have something great to sell...why not sell it online?

EdgeRank algorithm - FACEBOOK

I have been asked a lot, at my recent Facebook workshops...

“Will everyone see what I 'post' on Facebook”?

Making it work for you

Just to rewind a little...there are (very) basically two types of pages on Facebook. Firstly, a 'Friends Page' otherwise known as a 'friends profile' or 'personal profile' and secondly, a 'Likes Page' or 'Business Profile'. If you want a 'Likes Page' for your business or club, you need to have a 'Friends Page' so that you become what Facebook calls an 'Administrator'.

Also, a 'post' is the message you type in to appear on your page/profile. Also known as a 'Status Update', a 'post' can include, text, image, video or a website link.

Now back to the answering that question...The answer is “Maybe”.

First of all, for someone to see your 'post', it depends on if someone is your 'friend' (on a friends profile/page) or if they 'like' your business (on a business 'like' page). These are the other Facebook users who have agreed to associate with you.

Also, when someone who is your 'friend' or who 'likes' you, 'comments' or 'likes' something you have 'posted', there is a possibility that their 'friends' and/or people who 'like' them will see what you have 'posted' by association. It can work like a flow on effect.

Now, getting more technical...Facebook has an algorithm called EdgeRank. It is a mathematical formula designed to present each (Facebook) user with the 'posts' it deems to be most aligned with each users' personal interests. It also takes into consideration, how many people have 'liked' your 'post' or left a 'comment'. A 'post' with 100 comments will always appear higher than a post with 2 comments.

Kate vanderVoort, director at Socialmediology suggests that “...one in five posts can be given over to marketing...” (source: www.nett.com.au).

The aim is not to bombard (bore) people with constant messages about your products or services but to provide other useful information. Information can include tips, expert advice, information about industry developments. You can also use this opportunity to link off to your business's blog (if you have one). The more interaction you have with those who “like” you or are your “friend” on Facebook, the more people will SEE you.

MINI TIP: Upload your business logo to your business 'like' page to help increase brand awareness.

YouTube

The web is an amazing place with a limitless supply of cheap advertising opportunities for small and large business. An increasingly popular advertising medium is YouTube, and it is free.

As a business, you can promote your products and services by way of video presentation. It does not need to be fancy, just worth watching. Another great way to utilise YouTube is Do-It-Yourself instructions and video testimonials. These can help you and your business appear more credible.

To create your own video, all you need is a video camera, that you can hook up to your computer, and some video editing software, to add some text, cut sections of movie etc. Keeping your video short is also important…it is recommended that your video is between 2 and 3 minuets long depending on what is it for. You can also get an animator to create a custom video for you, like a music film clip. It may just cost you a bit extra.

Once you have your finished video, you can create a Youtube account (otherwise known as a YouTube Channel) where you can upload your video. You can customise your YouTube Channel to match your business colours etc, and you can also add other people’s videos to your Channel. It is all for free.

To further promote your videos, adding them your website/blog is an option. Just get your website designer to do this for you if you don’t know how. You can also add other people’s YouTube videos to your website or blog. This is great if your suppliers/headquarters have spent the money/time creating the perfect ‘you-beaut-videos’ and that they are happy for you to use it.

Another great thing about YouTube is that you do not need to be creating videos to benefit. You can use it to learn new stuff – FOR FREE. The amount of information available that you can use to help improve your business is amazing. You can learn more about online marketing and social media, how to use certain computer programs, how to become a better manager and more…

Ever wondered what sites already link to your website?

By simply typing in link: before your web address into Google, you can see what other sites link back to yours. Google does not count all of the links pointing to your site but this is a great starting point. This works on Yahoo too. For example: you might find out that you already have a listing with www.hotfrog.com.au but you do not appear on True Local or Start local.

It also works on your competitors websites. If you are wondering where their website appears...type in link: then your competitors web address. You can then copy these links and start to advertise also. Many of these databases are for free so all it costs you is your time and a little grey matter to figure out what to type.

Another great way to test if your external “links” are working for you, is to type in your business name into the different search engines and see what appears (other then your own website link).

This technique is great for getting serious about your search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine ranking and overall Internet presence.

Website Rules

In this day and age it is almost expected for all businesses to have a website. Those of us who already have a website, need to learn how to better utilise them. Those without a website, need to invest in some careful planning before making that final step.

WEB RULE NUMBER ONE:

Determine whether or not you really need a website. Some services do not necessarily suit the web. Decide whether a website is the optimal method of reaching your audience. Alternatively, you may not need an actual website, you can list your business or organisation for free on a bunch of great online databases. E.g. www.hotfrog.com.au, www.startlocal.com.au and more...

WEB RULE NUMBER TWO:

Make sure your site fits. Your website should fit in with your business image; color scheme, business cards, other advertising, logos, pictures and message. Build your business as an overall brand that is easily recognised.

WEB RULE NUMBER THREE:

Make sure that your website is relevant. Depending on what your message is, it is sometimes inappropriate to include too much personal information, if any at all. The type of client you want to attract, will determine what kind image your need to create and therefore the type and amount of information you provide to them.

WEB RULE NUMBER FOUR:

Update Update Update. Give people a reason to revisit your site! Provide new information, update product news, include your monthly newsletter or regular special offers. This is also a great way of maintaining/improving on your search engine rankings. Create a blog (not unlike this one) and link it to your website.

WEB RULE NUMBER FIVE:

ADVERTISE the fact you have a website. Some search engines rank in accordance to how relevant and popular your site is, so blab about how great it is in every piece of advertising you do already do, online and print It does not cost you anything extra. Also, some customers feel more comfortable on visiting a website before contacting a business direct. You can never have too much publicity.

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A good website is easy to read, easy to use and easy to find.