Every day, billions of people are using Search Engines to find a host of information online. From products and services to restaurants, accommodation, statistics, companies, people, health tips, celebrity gossip, books, movies and just about everything else there is to know, online searches have become such an everyday part of life that the expression ‘Google it’ has become the most common term for sourcing information.

How exactly are people using Search Engines however, and how does this affect Search Engine Optimization?

Interesting Search Engine Usage Statistics

According to recent studies, people are far more likely to turn to Search Engines to find products and services, rather than paper-based directories such as Yellow Pages. Conversion rates are also higher for online searches compared to paper-based directories. The reason for this is that for most people, it is far easier to enter a direct search term and get instant results, along with reviews, ratings and recommendations that are seldom offered with a traditional directory. A 2010 Local Consumer Review Study revealed statistics on web users, which highlighted some rather interesting facts:

• 70% of users used the internet to find a local business in the last 12 months
• Younger users use Search Engines to find local businesses more than older users
• 67% of local users consulted online customer reviews of local businesses when searching for the business online
• Younger users are swayed by positive online reviews more than older users
• Female users are more inclined to choose a local business with positive reviews
• 69% of local users rely on online reviews as much as personal recommendations

The Evolution of Search Engines

With constant changes in Google ranking factors, algorithm and Search Engine features such as Maps, Places, Blog search, News search and other advancements in online search, user experience has become a major priority when it comes to Google and other SEs.

Trust, reputation and authority have also become a vital part of Google’s ranking factors, and content that contains spam, is not relevant, does not hold value or does not meet other ranking factors is shifted to the bottom of the SERPs. Users have far more control over the content that they see in the Search Engines too, with the option to block pages they do not wish to see in their results pages.

How Does This Affect Search Engine Optimization?

SEO has changed every bit as much as Search Engines have changed, and it is no longer enough to expect potential customers to browse your site and make a purchase. Understanding how web users are searching for your company online is the best way to plan your optimisation strategies. Content that is well-written, relevant, unique and rich in information is far more likely to be read by users.

While you shouldn’t stop optimising for Search Engines, it is important to remember that Search Engine Optimisation should also be targeted for the people who are actively searching for your company this very minute.

When it comes to online marketing strategies and SEO campaigns, there are still a number of misconceptions that are made in regards to how these strategies work, how much time is needed, what skills are needed and even what to do once you start seeing results. All too often, people assume that online marketing is something that anyone can do, and by failing to understand exactly how much work, skill and experience goes in to every project, you run the risk of missing out on excellent results that can be enjoyed when an effective online marketing strategy is implemented properly.

Here are some of the most common misconceptions surrounding the world of online marketing:

1. All you need for success is a good product

While it’s true that a good product will sell, if you don’t have an adequate online presence, your product may as well be invisible. In the online world, word of mouth is never enough to generate the type of traffic that you need to succeed, which is why strategies such as SEO elements, social media marketing, good content and a user-friendly website are essential for ANY product to succeed online, regardless of what the product may be.

2. Online marketing is quick and easy

Many people assume that they can set up  an online marketing campaign quickly, and get results just as quickly. In reality, there is no quick fix for online success and it can take a while before you start reaping the rewards from increased traffic, social media success and boosted sales and conversions. A long-term approach is always the best way to move forward, allowing you to build your online presence with consistent effort to improve site elements, write engaging content and make your site as user-friendly as possible.

3. You do not need to spend money on online marketing

Another common misconception is that you shouldn’t have to spend much in order to get results online. Some people feel that online marketing and SEO companies charge way too much, without realising what these costs actually cover, and how much goes into a typical campaign. If you do not feel that you can afford an online marketing campaign, speak to a few companies about working out a budget that offers you basic services that you may be able to afford.

4. Anyone can do online marketing

You might be thinking that you don’t need to hire an expert, because you have a cousin who ‘does websites’ and is brilliant at Facebook. Maybe you think that this will save you costs, but ultimately online marketing is a full-time job, not something that is done on the side. If you want to achieve solid results, then you need to hire the right person for the job, who has the right skills and enough time to deliver focused internet marketing strategies to get you results.

5. Your site is ranking at last and now you can relax

One of the biggest misconceptions made is that once you finally see those results you have been chasing, you can relax and take it easy. In reality, this is quite the contrary – you will need to consistently work at keeping your rankings, and it can take a very short time for your rankings to drop back down once again. If you consistently deliver good content, and remember those SEO elements and keep your social media strategies running, then you will be able to grown and maintain your results. This is one of the most important lessons to learn when considering an online marketing & SEO campaign.

Before you can start any SEO strategy, you will need to ensure that your website is friendly for both Search Engines and users. One of those factors that can have a negative effect on SEO, and also put your visitors off drastically, is a slow website that takes its’ time to load. The good news is that, with a bit of effort, you can speed up your website in no time at all – ensuring a fast loading site that can easily be trawled by Search Engine spiders, while also being more appealing to your visitors.

1. Firstly, go ahead and install Firebug and Google Page Speed Tool and try and get the highest possible score by getting the usual suspects out of the way, such as:
   • Enable GZip Compression
   • Leverage browser caching
   • Optimize your images
   • Minify HTML
   • Minify & externalise JavaScript
   • Minify & externalise CSS
2. Rather than hosting your images on your website, host images remotely through a service such as Amazon S3. This service works by allowing web browsers to load from multiple domains at the same time, creating the illusion of a faster-loading website. Another option is to put your images on Flickr, and use these as a separate domain.
3. Resize your images before uploading them to your website, and add the size of these images by “width=size” and   height=”size” into the <img /> tag. Use Photoshop or another image editing programme to resize by pixels rather than width, as this will ensure that you do not lose image quality.
4. Another good tip for Search Engines, as well as usability, is to write decent code that isn’t full of issues. Many CMS’ add a lot of strange HTML that can affect load time significantly. Always clean up your code, and work from a text file rather than copying content from Word, which will also add useless code.
5. Don’t embed your JavaScript, but rather place it into .js files. When Java is embedded, every visiting web browser,   including Googlebot, will be forced to download the code every time it arrives on a page. If you put the Java code into a file, then the spiders can ignore this and move onto content that it can read and index.
6. Another good tip to increase page speed, keep your database on a separate server. If your site has high volumes of traffic, then it is best to put your website on one server and your database on another, as databases use a lot of server resources, ultimately slowing down your website too.
7. Set up your server to allow caching. For those using WordPress, a plugin like W3 Total Cache is highly advised. Your server should be able to include caching, so whatever CMS you are using, find out how to enable the caching option.
8. Don’t skimp on hosting. Even if you are running a small website, good hosting will always ensure better load times and less chance of downtime or other issues. Just like you wouldn’t skimp on medical or dental services, you should never skimp on hosting services and resources either.
9. Stay away from Flash. It may look pretty, but Flash websites and pages are always going to be slow to load. You can still use elements of Flash on your website without creating the entire page in Flash – just be sure to use it carefully!
10. Another top tip, SEO experts advise to fix canonicalization issues. This means making sure every page on your site has its own single address – for example: http://www.website.com/productpage, as opposed to having http://www.website.com/productpage, http://website.com/productpage and http://www.website.com/productpage.html all actively going to one and the same page. This will improve page speed, caching and memory issues, and will also do you a world of good from an SEO point of view too.
11. Ok, so there’s 11….. Understand how to use CSS properly. That means using the correct paragraph or style tags (such as <p> tags or <span> tags or <div> tags) at all times –  instead of filling the code with unnecessary tags such as  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;. This will save a lot of unnecessary use of space, and avoid bloating the code, thereby increasing load time and making it easier for Search Engine spiders to trawl your pages.

As any good SEO consultant will tell you, in order to prepare solid campaigns, you will first need to prepare your website so that it is SEO ready. This is the basis of any SEO strategy, and something that every webmaster needs to consider if they want to boost their rankings.

After hearing multiple rumours and murmurs on the wire about Facebook & Google sussing out the potential of acquiring one of our favourite voice and video chat systems, Skype, we have heard today that the sale of Skype to Microsoft has been confirmed – at a whopping $8.5Billion in cash. This is Microsoft’s biggest acquisition in the last decade, after aQuantive at $6Billion.

Many of Microsoft’s acquisitions have fallen by the wayside and summed up some speculation about their buying habits, but as it stands, with a Skype integration into Microsoft devices and systems such as Xbox and Kinect and Xbox Live, we envision this to be one of their most savvy acquisitions by far.

In the game of online marketing, which is more powerful: SEO or Social Media? This debate has changed the way that many online marketers plan their goals, and ultimately this also affects how customers are searching for your website right this very second. While some marketers claim that SEO is all that you need, others are firmly in favour of social media marketing – in the long run, both are right… but not in the way that they may think. The ultimate winning formula is a healthy mix of both strategies, as studies show that customers use BOTH of these channels to find information online.

How the average online user finds information

The way that it works is simple – a customer is trying to find a company that sells roofing equipment. Typically, he will try searching online for a term such as ‘roofing equipment Cape Town’ for instance. This search will bring up some results for various companies offering roofing supplies, which the potential customer will make a note of, and take a look at the business websites to find more information. At the same time, this customer may also update his Facebook status with something like: ‘Can anyone recommend a good roofing supply company in Cape Town?’, and may also put this question on Twitter. He may also check out review sites to see if anyone has written anything about the companies he has found online. The reason for this is that we all like to get personal recommendations, and are much more likely to try a company that a friend or acquaintance has suggested rather than try our luck with a relative unknown company. Social media marketing relies on this ‘personal recommendation’ factor to make it easier for potential customers to learn more about your product from the people they know.

How does SEO work with social media?

If you aim for a holistic online marketing strategy that includes plenty of social marketing such as blog posts, Facebook page updates, helpful Twitter resources, YouTube videos and other content that users will want to view and share, then your job is already halfway done – you will be getting plenty of backlinks, exposure and recognition, not to mention traffic. Combine this with all your SEO strategies such as on-site work, link building and keyword rich website content, and you have a winning strategy that targets both channels effectively.

If you do not put any SEO elements into your online marketing strategies, you will not be able to bolster the exposure that you get through your social marketing campaigns however, so do not make the mistake of thinking that social media can replace SEO. The same goes for strategies that rely solely on SEO marketing – without the added benefits of social media, which draw millions of web users to content found all over the web, you will not be able to enjoy the rewards that these channels offer, such as brand recognition, online visibility, recommendations, traffic and user-based information sharing.

Include social media marketing along with your SEO campaigns however, and you have a win-win formula that will help get you the results that you want online.

Online Marketing & each element of the process, such as Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Email marketing requires in depth research, analysis, strategizing and clearly defined goals and objectives before implementation starts.

Campaign Goals & Objectives

Once you have screened and decided to take on your new client (screening and choosing your clients effectively is extremely important), the very first step you need to take is define your main objective and set short and long term goals for the campaign.

Sit down with your client and discuss what they want out of this whole venture. Is it purely to drive traffic to the site and drive up conversion and sales through your online storefront? Or, will the campaign be geared toward building your brand and becoming a leader in your industry? Or even redefining and recreating the entire online presence?

Without these in place how could you possibly know what you want to achieve or even worse, show your client a Return on Investment?

Site Analysis and Benchmarking

Look at the site and all its elements from every possible angle by creating a full Site Checklist with a strong emphasis on SEO. This will take care of the elements that must always be present for a Search Engine and User friendly website, but remember that every website is unique in some way and requires individual elements to be tweaked or changed.

Record the website and competitor statistics and important information that will allow you to be able to gauge starting performance. This serves the dual purpose of allowing you to know what must be done to achieve success and also being able to track and report improvement.

The following are a few stats to record:

• Starting Keywords (to track improvement and for targeting additional keywords later)
• Competitive analysis of Inbound Link Count
• Competitive analysis of Site Indexation
• Competitive analysis of targeted and main industry keyword rankings
• Conversion Stats
• Social Media Presence and influence

Strategy

Now that you know what you want, you need to create a strategy to achieve your goals. Strategizing and setting up the plan of action to achieve each individual goal and working your way up to your end goal is a recipe for success.

Each element of the Internet marketing campaign will require its own specific strategy built around your goal. The beauty of a good campaign though is that all of these individual elements will work together in strengthening your site, its presence and brand power and with it all, sales.

Implementation, Continuous Analysis and Improvement

The implementation of your strategy is usually the stage that takes slightly longer due to all the technical knowledge that must be implemented. Using a great team of experts makes this process more efficient and effective.

Communication with your client during this and the analysis and maintenance stages are extremely important.

Keep a close eye on the site’s performance and record any significant events. Not only will you be able to tweak and improve your campaign but if problems arise you will be able to quickly find and correct them.

Do you have any comments or tips to share with us? We’d love to discuss them.

Having a great business website is not enough in the realm of Online Business. “Build it and they will come” is not an effective point of view or strategy when it comes to building your online empire. There is much to be done to get the best results from your business online.

Search Engine Marketing or SEM is divided into 3 major elements namely, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay per Click) or paid advertising and Social Media marketing.

Using these elements, either individually or in conjunction with one another, is crucial – especially for new businesses or existing businesses looking to expand into the online world.

As a new website, or a website that has not implemented any online marketing strategies, your products, services or solutions will not rank for any of the valuable industry keywords that your potential customers are searching for in the major Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc). This of course means that traffic to your site will be low and that ultimately you will achieve less conversions, sales and revenues without a proper online marketing strategy for your business.

PPC Advertising

Many consider PPC to be the easier strategy of the two. This may be true from an implementation point of view, but there is a lot to know in order to run an effective PPC campaign. Considerable research would need to be done, but with a little insight and savvy you will be able to find all the tools and knowledge you need from Google’s Adwords support system.

PPC is very effective in quickly attracting targeted traffic, depending on your budget.

Advantages of PPC

* Your PPC campaign can be up and running in minutes.

* No modifications to your website are necessary.

* You pay only when users click your ads.

* You can choose exactly how much you spend on the campaign.

* You control who sees your ads by use of keyword targeting.

* You can choose the language and geographic target that your ads are displayed in.

* Your campaign can be effectively tracked and monitored for optimum results.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO as a whole consists of a myriad of elements that will be used to analyse your business and business needs, create a strategy, and to implement and Optimize that strategy to maximize results.

The following Questions are the Answers to your perfect strategy:

1. What does your target market want? And where are they from? (Keyword research and Geo Targeting)

2. Who are your competitors, and what will it take to beat them? (Competitor Analysis)

3. Does your website facilitate competing with these competitors? (Web layout and structure)

4. What are the most suitable online strategies for your business?

5. How long will it take to implement the strategies, and what results are achievable?

6. How can we improve your strategy to improve your performance?

Improved SEO rankings take time. Although you may see improvements in both rankings and traffic within 3 months it generally takes between 3 and 6 months to see a noticeable increase in performance.

The reason for this delay is that Google and other search engines have to crawl millions of sites daily and this takes a little bit of time. Google has large scale updates where the number and quality of inbound links toward your site, as well as the quality of resources and information that appears on your site, is ‘weighed and measured’ and then will add or subtract from your online authority and credibility – this determines whether or not your rankings improve.

Social Media Marketing

Another online marketing strategy is Web2.0 and Social media. Social bookmarking, blogging and networking can facilitate an influx of traffic and links from other sites that will add to your online reputation and credibility. But we delve deeper into social media and viral marketing at a later stage.

So as you can see, there are quite a few things to consider when starting your Online Marketing campaign. To get the results you are after you will either have to learn the ins and outs of online marketing and the online world, or you’ll have to find the right people who know the right stuff about what your business requires.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks that can be encountered in an Online Marketing & SEO campaign is when the client has unrealistic expectations of the campaign. SEO’s and Online marketers have a responsibility to run the client through all facets of the campaign and manage client expectations before any work starts.

Contrary to popular belief, there are also certain tasks that the SEO client will have to perform during the course if the campaign to assist their SEO Company in getting the job done effectively and efficiently.

Managing Client Expectations

• No SEO can guarantee top rankings, but projections can be made as to realistic results that we wish to achieve. Most of the time, these results that are projected will not align with the expectations of the client. Especially when the client is in an extremely competitive industry and where the keyword competition is very high.
• The client must understand that SEO is not a quick fix or a strategy that will bring in lots of extra traffic and sales quickly. SEO is a long term investment that requires constant work on the part of the SEO and the client.
• SEO is intangible to most because of the fact that a large portion of work on your site is mostly done behind the scenes, or in the code of you site. Because of this, the client must be open to regular communication where progress can be explained.

When embarking on an Online Marketing campaign as an online business or business owner, there are certain tasks that you as the business owner will have to perform.

The Client’s Job

Keyword Research & Selection

This is the most important step in any SEO campaign. The keywords that are selected will be used throughout your entire SEO and additional online marketing campaigns. The mistake that clients make is to force the SEO to use generic industry keywords that, in all probability, won’t get results. Off course the client’s input is needed and extremely valuable, they know their industry better than anyone. These suggestions will be taken into consideration when in depth research is done to select the best keywords for your site.

Implementation of recommended changes

Your SEO Company will in all likelihood require changes to your website structure or elements in some way or form. In some cases these changes will have to be implemented by the client themselves and when this process is dragged out, you as the client will take longer to see a return on your investment.

Content Creation & Addition

Most clients still do not appreciate the importance of good website content. Not only must you maintain an acceptable text to code ratio on your site, but unique and informative industry related content must be added to your site on a regular basis. A good SEO company will have a team of copywriters on hand for your site’s primary content, but you as the client will have to add to this by creating engaging content for your site’s blog or news section.

Micromanaging your SEO

Asking questions and understanding your SEO strategy is a good thing, but if you feel the need to approve and dissect every step that must be taken, you will get in the way. Occupying yourself with all the details of the SEO or Online marketing campaign is detrimental not only to the campaign, but also to your business. You have a business to run. Do the research on your chosen SEO Company and let them do their job.

Social Media Management

If you did not sign up for a full Social Media marketing campaign, you cannot expect your SEO Company to manage and grow your social media presence full time. Social media marketing in itself is a full time job and requires constant attention and strategy. Your SEO Company will be able to get you started or even assist you in creating a social media marketing strategy, but from there on in, you have to be persistent and keep your following on the social media networks growing.

Working with an SEO & Online Marketing company requires work from both the client and the company, so make the right choice when choosing your SEO experts and assist them in getting the job done.

In order to effectively show the benefits of marketing your business and products and/or services online, we will need to compare online marketing with conventional marketing such as TV, radio, print, and outdoor advertising (billboards, flyers etc.)

The Consumer

Targeted Marketing – Shotgun vs. Sniper

The Shotgun Approach

Conventional marketing relies on a shotgun approach where ads are placed randomly without knowing whether the viewer will be interested in your product or service at any one specific point in time. Let’s take billboard advertising as an example.

You might be on your way to work or town using whatever means of transport, and you become vaguely aware of a huge billboard, advertising short term- or business insurance. Chances are you already have an insurance provider with which you are happy (this is assuming that anyone is ever happy with paying insurance). In all probability this means that you are not in the market for a new insurance policy and the advertisement passes you by without converting you to action. We could say that this would be the case with an average of 50% of all viewers of the ad.

This means of advertising would have a very low strike rate, compared to Online marketing which follows the sniper approach.

The Sniper Approach

Target Marketing focuses on a specific audience you want to target to sell your product or service to. The fact of the matter is the majority of people don’t need your product right now, so why would you target those individuals? Instead you should be targeting those consumers who do need your product right now. Target marketing saves you time and money by targeting smaller groups of people. Don’t target everyone and hope they want your product, rather target those who you know want your products. This ensures a much higher rate of conversion from mere browser to buyer.

You just bought your dream car which puts you in the market for short term insurance. You decide to go online to find some quotes from some of the insurance companies that are advertising online i.e. those insurance companies that use a targeted approach to marketing. You find the best policy that suits your needs and budget, and contact the company to write it up. You have just been converted from a browser to a buyer.

Can you see how the strike rate will increase by a very large percentage?

Availability & Information

Conventional Marketing

In traditional marketing the consumer has to rely on the available adverts to make a decision whether to buy this brand or that. If the brand is not actively being advertised the options diminish. Unfortunately, very few businesses have the budget to advertise actively by means of traditional marketing.

Online Marketing

Consumers today are very knowledgeable and research their options when considering a product or service.

• 95% of purchasing consumers use the web to research products and services – B2B Magazine Survey.
• 85% of internet users are also internet shoppers – The Interactive Consumer.

The consumer is able to find a much wider variety of brands and products online.

Convenience

Customers can shop 24 hours a day from anywhere without going to a physical store. Buying online is also interactive & immediate. Consumers can interact with the seller’s site to find information on products or services that they desire and order straight away.

The Marketer

Online Marketing and Advertising hold huge advantages for the marketer such as:

Cost

Marketing your business online can be much more cost effective when compared to the traditional means of marketing and advertising. By merely targeting your market effectively online you will cut costs.

Measurable

There is a multitude of site analysis tools that will accurately measure your site performance by means of traffic statistics; conversion rates, geographical data to target locally and a whole bunch other metrics.

Analysis and Decision Making (Real Time Data)

Analysis tools allow you to track:

• How visitors found your site
• How visitors use your site
• What is the most popular sections or areas on your site
• What conversion funnels work best

Using this data and other stats you will be able to make on the spot decisions and also test what works and what doesn’t and then make the necessary changes.

Constant

Conventional Marketing mediums have a limited shelf life (30 seconds per TV ad, printed ads get thrown away, etc.) On the other hand, Online Ads and Marketing is always present when the user needs it or wants to research possible products. Potential Customer can find you and your products and services at any time, day or night. The Search Engines will funnel the right prospects to your site if Online marketing is done correctly.

Social Media

The web has gone social with users, business owners, and consumers alike are turning to online platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to get their message out and to build relationships which drive more traffic.

This week I decided to post some of the most inspiring and interesting  infographics and videos out there. Obviously I cocentrated  on the biggest players in the online marketing world:

1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Twitter
   

And then I found a few really nice ones and decided to add those too, just for fun Without any further adu, here the are.

How Google Works

This fantastic Infographic on How Google Works really makes the process simple enough for everyone to understand how the Google Powerhouse works.

For Online Marketers just starting out, this would be great place to get a better view and understanding of Google.

The Google Story

This is a brilliant Video about the Google Story and shows how the Giant started and evolved over the years.

Google Real Time Search

Quite some time ago Google struck a deal with Twitter to get access to their Tweet database. This lead to Google being able to display real time results of topical tweets in the search engine results.

For those who don’t yet know how to access these real time results:

• Search in Google as normal
• In the new left hand options menu – click on “more”
• select “Updates”

Here is the video that Google created for the launch of the functionality – mind boggling how we are so connected to the world in real time through this feature!

The Social Media Effect

Below we have a graphical representation of the Social Media effect that can be created with your site content to generate hype and traffic to your brilliant content.

Google Search Story – Parisian Love

Google launched a brilliant Video creator with YouTube where users can create their own little short story with a few well selected search queries. Below is one of my favorites – such a romantic.

The History of Facebook

Below is a representation of the history of the Facebook evolution. This is a fantastic piece of information for research purposes. Maybe you have the next best thing in Social Media?!

The Rise of Twitter

Here we have a graphic showing the immense growth of original and best Micro-blogging platform – Twitter.

The growth that twitter experienced over such a short period of time is staggering to say the least!

The Evolution of Email

The infographic below shows how email works, some stats and also how email evolved.

What BP Could buy with all that Money

This is quite a large graphic. It scrolls from left to right.

The graphic shows what BP would’ve been able to buy with all the cash they are using to clean up their oil mess.