Internet Marketing Updates

Mar

24

Google Personalised Search

Filed Under Google Updates, News & Updates, Search Engine Marketing General

If you haven’t recently noticed the type of results being displayed differently in Google, you are likely to notice them soon enough.

Google has recently brought their ‘personalised search’ out of Beta after more than a year of testing, providing you with a new way of viewing search results, that will change the search landscape considerably.

So what is Google Personalised Search?

The overall look and feel of Google will still stay the same, you will simply find Google provides you with search results based on your own individual search history. For instance, a consumer who searches using the keyword ‘Rhinoplasty Surgery’ will be very likely to be looking for a Plastic Surgeon to give them a nose job, where as a Plastic Surgeon who is searching under the same keyword, will be more likely to be researching new techniques, or finding out more about what is happening within their industry. In the previous Google environment, the results for this keyword search would have been exactly the same.

So enters ‘Personalised Search’…

Through your search habits, Google will better understand whether you are more interested in looking for a plastic surgeon, or you are the plastic Surgeon, and give you results better customised to your needs. It will also mean that sites you visit more often, will appear at the top of your related search results.

Will everyone one see Personalised Search Results?

At this time, personalised search results will only work for you if you have a Google Account, and you are signed into it.

If you want to find out more about your search history with Google, login to your Google account, and in the top right hand corner of your Google page, click on ‘Web History’. Here you can view the previous sites you have visited, and even remove results if you feel they might ‘skew’ your general search results.

While for some, this raises issues of privacy, if it is of concern to you, all you need to do to ‘opt out’, is sign out of your Google account.

I believe that while this is a major change to how we see our search results in Google, it is one that will prove very beneficial to us as Google users. And now more than ever it is important to make sure your website is being found in the Google results of your target market.

Looking to improve your Google search results? Contact us today to find out more about what we can do for your website…

Sep

24

Online Fraud - Protecing yourself

Filed Under General

Online fraud is something many people worry about when purchasing products or services over the internet, and so they should. While many shopping sites have measures to protect you as much as possible, there are also a few things you can do to help protect yourself:

When purchasing through a site that takes credit card payments, check it has an SSL certificate (the little padlock in the address bar on your browser, or at the base of your browser)
If the site is using a 3rd party payment processor that it redirects you to, make sure it is a well known payment site such as Paypal or 2CO. The advantage of using PayPal is that they offer buyer protection, and a great dispute resolution system, so you can feel much safer shopping using PayPal.
Make sure any passwords you use compromise of upper and lower case letters and numbers. Also avoid using dictionary words.
Avoid using a password you use for your internet banking, on an unknown shopping site.
You are using an updated browser. We recommend FireFox. If you use Internet Explorer, make sure you are using Version 7. (best not to try V8 at this stage)
If you receive an e-mail from your bank, PayPal, or any other financial institution asking you to ‘click here’ to update your details, or for any other request, do not click on the link in the e-mail. Institutions like this will not send you this kind of message. If you are unsure, simply type the name of the site that appears on the e-mail directly into your browser.
Always check your bank statements carefully, just to be sure no transactions appear that you have not authorised.

Making use of some of the measures above will ensure you are decreasing the changes of fraud, and making it safer for you to shop online.

Apr

20

Fluctuation of Google Wesbite Listings

Filed Under Google, Google Updates

If you are a regular user of Google, and especially a business who constantly checks your own search engine rankings, you may have noticed for a good part of this year that there has been considerable fluctuation in the placement of your keywords within Google–even from minute to minute. We speak often speak to website owners who are worried that this is something only affecting them. Take heart, many of your competitors are also facing the same problem.

Why is this happening?

Google doesn’t provide specific information as to why rankings are fluctuating so much, however by analysing the constant changes, we believe that this largely due to ‘Google Universal’. For those of you not familiar with Google Universal, it is the ‘blended results’, taken from different areas of search within Google, such as general search, Google Book search, Google images, Google Video, Google News, Google Local (more commonly known as Google Maps).

What can you do about it?

While it is not possible to control exactly where your website will appear in Google, it is still important to keep a focus on the fundamentals of SEO (search engine optimisation), as well as focusing on ‘optimising’ your website for Google Universal, with elements such as Google Image search, and Google Local, as well as social media sites. More than ever, you cannot afford to sit back and wait to see what happens, because while you wait, your competitors will likely be optimising their sites for Google Universal, and getting ahead of you in this marathon.

If you aren’t getting the best results for your web marketing efforts, contact us today to find out how we can improve your Google rankings.

Apr

17

Quantum Web Solutions and Dental Corporation

Filed Under Breaking News

Breaking News

Quantum Web Solutions is proud to announce itself as the exclusive provider for web development / design, enhancement and search engine / website promotion services for dentists in the Dental Corporation Group, as well as search engine optimisation services for Dental Corporations’ main website…

Jan

15

New Years Website Health Check

Filed Under Search Engine Marketing General, Website Content, Website Design, Website Promotion

There has never been a better time than right now to give your website a health check. Businesses around the country are using the start of the New Year as a great excuse for redefining goals and setting new targets, so why not include improving your website as one of your New Year’s resolutions?

I’m always amazed by the number of businesses who don’t take the opportunity to invest time or effort into developing or improving their websites. The end result being a shabby representation of their business. All too often, websites have been quickly thrown together without much thought or imagination, or the website is years old and out-dated.

Starting the process can be difficult, so I’ve put together a checklist:

Step One - Appealing to the eye

The first step is to consider whether your website is appealing to most people and whether the design is modern and up-to-date. If you are unsure, you can easily find out by asking staff, colleagues, or friends. I would also recommend that you take a look at your top main competitors to see what they are doing with their websites.

And,… if you find yourself apologising to people for how your website looks, this is a definite sign you need to upgrade fast…

The simple fact is, if people see a website that doesn’t visually appeal to them, they will leave before they even get to see how good your products or services are.

Step Two - Content

How up-to-date is your content? Does it accurately reflect all the products or services you offer?

Do you have content that entices visitors to return to your website at a later stage? This is really important, if on their first visit to your site, they are early in the buying cycle, then you want to make sure they remember you so that when they are closer to making a decision to purchase, you will be number one in mind. Having interesting hints, tips, or features of your website is a good way to bring them back at a later stage.

And while we are on that note, if they are early on in the buying cycle, what can you introduce to your site to better educate them and bring them closer to making a decision?

Step Three - Usability

Is your website easy to navigate, enabling your site visitors to find the information they want quickly? For websites that grow quite quickly, it’s easy to lose the right navigation structure, making it difficult for website visitors to get around the site. Take the time to map out the flow of your website on a piece of paper (for smaller sites), or for larger sites Excel can be a good way to setup the flow. Remember, if someone can’t quickly find what they are looking for on your site, it is only a couple of clicks back to the search engines to find your competitors.

Usability and accessibility standards can also be an issue many do not consider. If users with disabilities visit your site, not only could you be losing potential valuable business from them, but did you know that in Australia and many other countries, it’s a legal requirement to have your site accessible for disabled users?

An interesting case back in 2000 proved that these laws can be enforced, as in the case of Bruce Lindsay Maguire v Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, in which Maguire won.

Step 4 - Pages being accessible

Do all of the links in your site work? This can be a problem more frequently than you think, as many website owners are simply unaware. A free tool called Xenu will easily scan through your site and provide you with a report to verify this.

Step 5 - Your home page

Does your home page provide a simple, clear message of what your business offers? Many businesses make the mistake of cramming so much information into their home page, because they want their visitors to know everything about them the moment they visit their site. The end result, a home page that looks messy, hard to read, and searchers leave before they find out what you have to offer.

Step 6 - Your sales message

Do you have a call to action, or a strong message to “buy now” if applicable? Without reasons to buy, you are likely to see a low conversion rate throughout your site.

Placing video on your website is also a great way to connect with your site visitors and to convert new business. So if it’s in your budget, I would really recommend it.

Step 7 - Website Reporting

Last, but definitely not least, what are your website analytics reports telling you about how your website is performing? Chances are, that the majority of people reading this are asking, “website reports?” Most businesses don’t look at their reporting, either because they don’t understand the information in the reports, or think they don’t have the time.

The information in these reports can be critical to properly, and effectively managing your website. Without this understanding, you won’t know how to improve your site, or worse still, you may change a section of your site that is performing really well for you.

Small changes to your site, based on this information, can have a big impact on your bottom line, which means more $$$ for you. Isn’t that one of the main reasons you’re in business?

Conclusion

If you’ve answered ‘no’ or ‘unsure’ to any of the questions above, then I encourage you to make improvements to your website a priority. Whether it’s your in-house web development team, or an external web development company, making sure your website is brought up to today’s standards in design and technology is of vital importance if you want to keep your business moving forward.

Think of it like this; if you walked into a shop or office, and it was really shabby, how would you feel about giving them your business? A website is no different… So what are you telling your potential clients about your business?