Understanding the Rules

Much like Google conducts searches for information, any Google local listing Australia search made will be scrutinized by Google’s search engines. Anything Google doesn’t like will make your ranking drop. Be sure your company listing includes your company name. A false listing that simply lists a pile of keywords reflecting what you do as opposed to the actual name of your company can result in penalization by Google.

Avoid Toll Free Phone Numbers

Although your first instinct will be to provide your toll free number for the sake of your clients, using your local number will work to your benefit for these three reasons:

• You local area code will validate you are located in the search location.
• Your local business number also validates your legitimate existence to Google.
• Using the number you registered with also offers validation when Google matches them up with your local council registration.

Give All Your Info to Google Local Business Centre

When you are completing your Local Business Centre form, Google provides you a percentage on the page that indicates how far you are in completing the form. Supply all the information requested to ensure 100 percent completion so Google can find you. This includes everything from photos to hours of operation. This will also ensure your customer will find everything they need. You can update information as required.

Offer a Coupon

Google loves coupons and posting one or more will bring value to your ranking.

Be Consistent

Make sure your website has your full address and phone number and that it matches the one on your listing.

Intuitive Navigation

A web designer has been trained on the aesthetics of web pages and how people want to use them. Top navigation bars offer the best navigation system for users and the addition of easy to use, clearly labelled drop down menus allow them to search for what they need with a roll of the mouse or drag of the finger.

Sprinkle Breadcrumbs

To add to ease of use, providing “breadcrumbs” for your users allows them to find their way back home. A trail of the headings they have clicked will let them know how deep into your site they have gone and more importantly navigate their way back in order to find products or services they have found interesting.

Colour Cues

Offer users colour cues that allow them to remember where they have already clicked. Changing the colour of already navigated links is a trick used by website designers and using brighter colours for those yet undiscovered will allow users to focus on where they are going, while knowing in the back of their mind where they have already been.

Fewer Choices, Less Confusion

Another trick of professional web designers is to use a simplified menu. Not only do they offer fewer selections to click, they also ensure the names of the categories make sense to the customer. Many businesses make the mistake of referring to the wholesale reference name or category as opposed to what the consumer may recognize.

Page Templates

Using a consistent design creates familiarity throughout the site. Changing the format from page to page will confuse the consumer and may even make them think they have linked to another site.

These guidelines help create a user-friendly site improving traffic and sales.

• Believe it or not it is estimated that by the end of 2013 there will be more handheld devices than people on earth.
• 80 percent of smart phone users would like to have access to mobile optimized product information while they are shopping in a bricks and mortar store.
• 27 percent of a mobile user’s time is spent on retailer Apps, which means they are interested.
• 4 out of 5 consumers use their Smart Phones to shop.

Combine those quick facts with these interesting points:

• 65 percent of consumers do their online research on a PC and then shop in store.
• 1 out of every 5 consumers is “showrooming”, which means they are window shopping in store but going home and making a purchase on their PC.

And finally consider these rising numbers:

• 57 percent of consumers will not tell a friend about your business if your web site is poorly designed for their mobile device.
• In fact 40 percent of those consumers will go to a competitor’s site if yours isn’t cutting’ it.

Smart phones and mobile usage are leading the way, yet over half of the consumers are still using their PCs to research and purchase online. Not only will you lose mobile customers to your competitor’s web site with an unresponsive design, you could use your PC customers too.  Responsive web design Australia businesses are using will help you please them both.

Many of you may be ready to pull your hair out if you hear the word content one more time. Rest assured you are not the only ones and only the most in the know Full Service SEO Company Australia watches will be able to gauge the next trend. Here are a few trends to be worried about:

Employee Buzz

You’ve heard the horror stories about disgruntled employees using Facebook and Twitter to get even with their evil employers. It’s bad enough when a disgruntled customer does it, but disgruntled staff can do just as much damage and often more if they have something damaging to say. That aside, there is a growing trend towards employee branding on a positive side via social media and employees can sometimes be your best promoters. Offering tips to staff on how and what to say will help get this trend to work in your favour.

Customer Buzz

Along the same lines of listening to what employees have to say, using social media to listen to what customers have to say can help in identifying what they want to hear. You can look to conversations on Social Media sites to get ideas for great content that they will actually want to read. Ignoring them will just get them angry and make you seem like you don’t care. Not good.

Gamer Buzz

People are turning to their smart phones and other devices every few seconds looking for something to do. The desire to be engaged is habit forming and offering something for customers to do will keep them forever in your debt. Even though your company has nothing to do with gaming, finding clever games, quizzes and other interactive Apps that can engage customers on your site is an obvious traffic driver with big stick potential. It’s also a super challenge for you and your SEO marketers.

The guarantee SEO Australia companies offer can certainly be easier to honour with these rising trends helping to drive traffic to your site.

Honing Your Skills

The copywriting Sydney businesses can benefit from the most will combine your expertise and a content writer’s skills to finesse your content into readable, usable information. You know all about the services and products you offer so what better resource for developing content is there than yourself. You can meet with a good SEO copywriting service and offer them your know-how, positioning yourself as a content guru.

Beyond Blogs

Using good content can go beyond blogs and apply to all you do and every way you communicate. Working with a professional online marketing team will allow you to find the best ways to get your information out there. Social Media, e-newsletters and articles are also ways to relate your content to potential clients.

Find Your Niche

It may be hard to imagine anyone would want to know about what you are selling, but if you can help solve a problem, than you will find people with that problem. Understanding your own business will help you come up with creative ways to present your ideas and solutions in order to develop a following and create your niche. A copywriting service will be able to make that content user friendly, entertaining and engaging.

Understanding the Rules

Your content writer will understand the rules of engagement when it comes to getting noticed on Google. They can apply tactics such as:

• Using Meta Tags and Descriptions
• Keyword and Key Phrase research and usage
• Ideal Keyword placement every 50 to 100 words
• Create a voice and personality for you
• Make it all seem natural

Keeping It Going

Your content will come across as honest and knowledgeable but more importantly will be written in a manner to which potential customers can relate. By keeping things real and continuing to offer solutions and product knowledge for your readers you will help set yourself up as their go-to guy. That means higher traffic and higher sales.

Responsive web design Australia and other countries are turning to allows for your website to be fluid and react and morph to the screen on which it is being viewed. But that’s not all. Responsive web design also then reacts based on how you are viewing and adapts for how you will scroll and navigate throughout the site. It will understand you are using a mouse, or if you are using your finger.

Now you’re starting to see why responsive web design is kind of important for you company’s website. Here are 5 more reasons:

1.       PC Sales On the Decline

Seems a little off, but it is true. PC sales are projected to be lower and your website was designed to be viewed on a PC.

2.       Rising Sales in Tablets and Smart Phones

So where are all those sales going? People are turning to tablets and Smart Phones.

3.       Mobile Market Research

Here are some recent statistics on mobile users’ habits:

• Smart Phones are within arm’s reach of their users 90 percent of the time.
• 70 percent of mobile searches take 1 hour to act as opposed to 70 percent of PC searches taking action in 1 month.
• Half of these mobile actions lead to purchases.
• Number of calls following a local search on a mobile: 61 percent
• Number of calls from mobile ads: 52 percent.

4.       Two Specific Mobile Users’ Complaints

• 46 percent of mobile users have trouble viewing traditional websites
• 44 percent of mobile users complain of difficult navigation

These are the two things responsive web design addresses.

5.       Google Thumbs Up

Google believes that web design best practices use responsive web design.  Now you know why it is important and why responsive web design Sydney business are using have a better chance of getting noticed.

Full Service for Full Potential

You can shop around like a local restaurant trying to find the freshest and cheapest food suppliers, but it takes time and in the long run you have spent more money than you’ve saved. Instead, you want to take the approach of the big chain restaurants who find the big guns, with the big service and a one stop shop approach to supplying fresh goods fast and with full value for their services. Using an Australia full service SEO Company will bring you all you need to succeed from the design of your site, to the function of your e-commerce and the most important point: helping people find you first and fast.

SEO Drives Traffic and Sales

Before you even think about getting yourself up and running you have to think smart and sit down with a full service SEO company who can offer you the strategy, design and traffic you require to succeed. The points that are most desired in your SEO services are as follows:

• Proven, guaranteed SEO services with top ranking record
• Advanced knowledge of online marketing strategy and proven outstanding results
• Leading edge design, with leading edge ideas
• Dependable, proven ecommerce services and webhosting
• Online marketing strategists who know how to get you noticed
• Social media gurus

Australian Magento Ecommerce Services

Magento is a leading edge Ecommerce platform that brings you all you need to succeed. They offer web hosting and an intuitive ecommerce system that will allow your customers to shop with ease and confidence. Finding a full service SEO company who offers ecommerce services through Magento brings you the smarts and expertise of Magento, but allows you to still deal with one online service provider.

Here’s what your online marketing agency should look for in your ecommerce platform:

Customisable Design

The design of your site is the first impression your customer will have of your business. A customisable design will allow your online marketing agency to work with endless design possibilities making sure your site has the profile it needs to make your brand memorable and trustworthy.

SEO Capabilities

A good design means nothing if your customers can’t find you. A good ecommerce platform offers SEO through search engine friendly URLs, customized Meta information, easy to use site maps and dynamic landing pages.

Ease of Use

Once customers find you they should be able to use your site easily and confidently. Customers are savvy and will be searching for specific products and prices. Product comparisons, wish lists and customer assisted shopping all add up for a positive experience that will promote customer loyalty.

Customisable Catalogue Options

Being able to sell to your customers online the same way you would in your brick and mortar shop or at least in the same way you would if you had a brick and mortar shop will add to your customer’s positive experience. Shopping by colour and size or descending order of price, by department or by category all offer you customized choices on how your customers will shop.

A good example of these services in Australia: Magento Ecommerce services over 150,000 online businesses because of their adaptability, customer service focus and powerful platform. Your online marketing agency should be seeking services such as Magento as they offer all of the above features and more, based on the size of your business in hand with your specific needs.

If your SEO service doesn’t use Google algorithms, then chances are – guarantee or no guarantee – you will not find yourself within the top 10 ranking positions. This means the guarantee will start to work against you as your SEO company continues to attempt to get top rankings, unaware Google is not responding due to changes to their algorithms.

Here are a 2 reasons Google algorithms are key to your SEO service’s guarantee:

1.       Google Panda – Content Police

Google Panda was first launched on February 23, 2011 in an attempt to bring quality content to the forefront and leave poorly written, “content farm” copy behind. This algorithm will actually suppress copy not following Google Guidelines. If your SEO company is not aware of new Panda criteria, they may be using undesirable methods, thus either resulting in rank suppression or getting you moved down the ranks and off the first page.  Australia Google SEO Services that know how to handle Panda know the following:

2.       Google Penguin – Over-optimisation Detective

Google Penguin was launched April 24, 2012 to help hunt down over-optimization and undesirable link building tactics. Any of the following strategies your Australia Google SEO services might be using could get you penalized and you and your service may not even know it:

• Keyword stuffing
• Buying links
• Anchor text keyword saturation

Algorithm Redemption

The only way your SEO service can get around rank suppression or any form of penalization is to remove the offending content altogether and replace it using the content guidelines Panda and Penguin love. Some tools to assist you measure the quality of your content:

• Copyscape to avoid plagiarism
• Reader test to ensure you are solving a problem
• Google Webmaster Guidelines to make sure you are following the rules

1. Keyword Research: Expert content writers know that it’s not about keywords; it’s about key phrases. There is only one-way to gauge the difference between phrases and their effects: understanding how to use Google Keyword Tool. By researching your keywords you will see how Google ranks them, allowing you to use your keywords to find top ranking key phrases. Using the “exact” check box option will bring you the key phrases you need.
2. Organic Links: The quality of your content will help encourage other sites to link to your site. This is known as link building and Google searches for these as well. The more natural links to your content, the more legitimate Google will think it is moving you further and further up the rankings.
3. Headlines and Subtitles: Catchy headlines are a must and should be under 66 characters for optimum effectiveness. Incorporate numbers such as Top 10, or 5 Rules of, etc. Use your key phrase in the title if at all possible. Sub-heads offer an overview for readers and break up copy.
4. List It: 70 percent of the top ranked pages use bulleted or numbered lists.
5. Vary Your Type: Use bold, underline and italics to emphasize content so search engines see you have important points.
6. Use “Quotations”: Quotations bring legitimacy to your site as it draws on the input of other experts.
7. Keep it Simple: Simplicity gets your content noticed and is easier for readers to understand for a quick read with valued information.
8. Solve a problem: Teach your readers how to do something, fix something or improve something.
9. You: You should speak directly to readers using you and yours to personalise your content.
10. Heat Map: Use a heat map to indicate where readers are clicking on your site.

In Australia, SEO company strategies for content writing include tactics like those above to help them get their clients top rankings.