Web & Marketing Info Galore

Monday, July 31  

Online Video Production Set To Make Money

Online Video Production Set To Make Money

There is tons of user generated content being added to sites - think Google Video, MySpace, You Tube - right now, along with a tremendous growth in video blogging.

Whilst no-one (of the smaller video producers) has quite figured out to generate consistent revenue from it yet, there are huge opportunities out there in Internet Video Land.

Advertising, branding strategies, product placement, subscription and pay per view are just a couple that spring to mind.

The upshoot - just keep developing video. Get better and better. Offer visitors more and more value.

The more valuable the video, the more valuable the audience will become.

Cheers

Brendon

read more | digg story

Aaaaaaargh Me Hearties, There Be A Reason For Tis

Aaaaaaargh Me Hearties, There Be A Reason For Tis

Michael Gray is a well respected Search Engine expert who writes a blog called Graywolf's SEO Blog. Every now and then Michael writes about something completely unrelated to search engine optimisation.

His latest post is a book review of The Pirate Hunter.
Now this post, whilst it has nothing to do with getting high search engine rankings, is a great example of how to develop a page for high search engine rankings.

The Key Aspects Of The Post

1. 'The Pirate Hunter' in the title tag
2. 'The Pirate Hunter' in the heading (and notice how it links back to itself)
3. The post references authority sites - Amazon, Google Maps, Google Images, Google Books, Wikipedia and the East Hampton Star.

But Why The Post?

Type in "The Pirate Hunter" into Google over the next week or so and I'm sure you'll find Michael's post in the top 20 or so.

I assume Michael has done the post to rank high because there are a lot of searches on all things pirate because of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

And that means more visitors for him.

It looks like a simple book review, but things aren't always as they seem.

Cheers

Brendon

Sunday, July 30  

Oh....And Record &/Or Video Your Speech

Oh....And Record &/Or Video Your Speech

Another obvious way to give added value from your speech is to record or video your speech and make it available to others afterwards.

You can also get the recording transcribed of course, and make that available as a download on your web site/your MySpace account (and if you're a real good speaker you can even charge for this).

Cheers

Brendon

Saturday, July 29  

Just More Noise - If He's An "Expert" He Must Be Good

Just More Noise - If He's An "Expert" He Must Be Good

Yesterday I went to a business lunch and listened to a so-called expert on New Media.

He said a few cliches, provided nothing of any real value, offered no added-value and was done.

I asked a few people what they thought and they thought he was great. Which was, to me, just more proof that if people listen to a so-called expert they assume it's great info. Even when it isn't.

I visited the web site of this expert after the speech - his web site has this on the otherwise blank home page:


Mmmmm. New Media expert or another clown making more noise?

Here's 2 Ways You Can Be A Better Speaker

1. Check out experts and critiques of what they're doing here.
2. Provide added value to the audience - here's an example of how I did this last year after doing a speech to an audience of home based business people on how they can use the Internet to help build their business (here's a bit of that speech here).

There's a whole lot of information there - from free reports to useful links.
Hope it is of some use.

The picture to the right is of me on the top of the steps of Rome's fabulous Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II - this is where Mussolini apparently gave his fiery war-time speeches from.

Whilst I don't want to give war-time speeches (!), it would be an incredible place to give a speech. One can dream!

Cheers

Brendon

Friday, July 28  

How To Be Elected President

How To Be Elected President

Sure, I hold the lofty title of Vice President of the Gold Coast Media Club (see post below).

But that's not enough for me! Last night I was re-elected as President of the Palm Beach Scouts. Unanimous, I might add.

(And sure, there will be people that will say the only reason I was elected unanimously is because I was the only candidate - that's just jealously though!).

It's pretty easy to get elected to voluntary positions within community groups.

• Go to the meetings.
• Take an interest.
• Be useful.
• Ask how you can help more.

Because helping the Palm Beach Scouts (my son Jack - pictured - is a Scout) for a few hours a week sure beats watching TV for that few hours a week. With my businesses resources we've:

• developed a web site
• started a Scouts newsletter
• developed a database of contacts
• developed direct mail campaigns (that raised $)
• obtained media coverage

No big cost to us, but a huge benefit to a struggling along Scout Troop

And it's no surprise that you meet some fantastic, giving and caring people in roles like this.
Can you help a local group? You'll get a lot out of it if my experience is anything to go by.

Cheers

Brendon "Just Call Me Mr President" Sinclair!

Thursday, July 27  

It's All In The Marketing

It's All In The Marketing

I'm the Vice President of the Gold Coast Media Club. We're an organisation comprised of mostly media and advertising people that has charity lunches throughout the year.

We raise money and give it to the chosen charity at the end of the year. This year the charity is the woinderful RACQ CareFlight Queensland.

Anyhow, Jeni Bone (of Edit It) is on the committee and Jeni suggested we ask well known Australian adman Rob Belgiovane as our guest speaker. Whilst Rob is well known within the industry, he's not well known out of it. Many people predicted we'd struggle to get the usual large crowds we attract to the lunches.

But Then Up Stepped Jeni

But then up stepped Jeni. In a whirl or energy, emails and PR Jeni had the event sold out well before the day.

You see, Jeni had access to the perfect target market - the media and ad agencies - and pitched the lunch to them. They're Rob's market, they're his audience and they just kept on booking.

Simple, effective and inexpensive. Perfect marketing.

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, July 26  

Improving Your Speech

Improving Your Speech

In a post yesterday I bagged the speech I heard yesterday morning. Now if I was smart I would have added value to that post by saying "Here are some resources to help you make better speeches."

But I'm not that smart.

Luckily, my online mate Dave Starr is.

And Dave shot me through this email "An absolutely great site for learning/improving public speaking skills. (found via Guy Kawasaki's blog, he's one of the examples used) - http://www.speakingchannel.tv/tjtalksabout.htm."

Thanks Dave.

And if you're interested in GPS Tracking, check out Dave's blog.

Cheers

Brendon

Where You Can Read Our Old Stuff

Where You Can Read Our Old Stuff

I've written a blog post pretty much everyday for the past 3 and a bit years. There's a whole range of things I've written about and everything is easily accessible via the 'Archive' section. That's at the top left of this page - just select a month and you can read everything I wrote for that month.

Dave, a regular reader, mentioned he couldn't see where to go for the archives - so I figured plenty of other people wouldn't have seen the archives. Here's directions!

Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, July 25  

Where We Are

Where We Are

I've been fooling around with Google Maps and Google Earth today (lat=-28.1204195579, lon=153.471926585 if you need to know!).

Thought why I was there I should copy a map of where we are.

Our offices are perfect - above a Korean Restaurant, Dominos Pizza, a Cafe & a Bakery (in order!). The local bar is 50 metres away. The Pacific Ocean about 100 metres away.

Would a map like that help your customers find you?

Brendon

Top 2 Quick Content Suggestions

Top 2 Quick Content Suggestions

Trying to figure out what content to add to your web site to increase your visitor numbers?

Here are a couple of quick tips:

1. Visit Google Zeitgeist - see what people are searching for on Google. Now write about those things. More searches = more potential visitors. Obviously it's important to ensure the content fits in with the theme of your web site.

2. Develop your site as a resource - I'm seeing more and more evidence that Google is loving editorial type sites. So don't be afraid to link off to appropriate sites - if you're writing about marathons, link to resources for marathons.

If you're writing about tinea, link off to a tinea site that is useful for your visitors.

If A Link Adds Value, Add A Link

Think of it like this, if a link isn't useful for your visitor then don't link. If it adds value then link.

Take the post below as an example. See how I linked the word "charlatan" - I did that because I wasn't 100% sure of the meaning of the word, so I assumed there would be others like me.

So by linking to the meaning of the word, I've added some value to the user experience.

So the 2 tips are to write what people want and to make it a useful resource to read. Easy.

Cheers

Brendon

Here's How Not To Start Your Speech

Here's How Not To Start Your Speech

I went to an IT group's breakfast meeting this morning and they had a guest speaker. He was to speak on How To Build A Successful Business.

His opening words were:

"I feel like a bit of a charlatan being up here speaking about how I built a successful business because I don't think my business is successful......."

It was pretty much all downhill from there!

Be Outrageous, Dynamic & Interesting

If you're doing a public speech you need to be upbeat, dynamic, outrageous, perky, controversial, motivating, different and interesting.

Start with something brilliant. Don't start by telling people that they shouldn't listen to you.

Brendon

Monday, July 24  

This Is For You If You've Never Visited Here Before

This Is For You If You've Never Visited Here Before

If you are one of the 54.5% of people who are visiting for the first time (see post below), this bit is for you.

Who I Am

Howdy. My name is Brendon Sinclair. I'm the Executive Director/Chief of Tailored Consulting - a predominately web development/search engine marketing specialist team.

I'm the author of The Web Design Business Kit - a kit that sells for $247 US and has met with a little success (sales in excess of $1 million and winner in 2004 of the Best Book on Web Design).

What We Do

• We develop web sites
• We specialise in marketing web sites - via high search engine rankings, Pay Per Click advertising, etc.
• We develop online video (Tina is our video specialist).
• We have our own podcast/Internet radio show (Tina again).

We've had some huge successes with what we do - sites from $0 to $20,000 per day in sales in just 12 weeks, # 1 search engine ranking for a hugely searched on term and much more.

We also have a huge amount of information on this site - check out the Case Studies, Articles and Free Info links on the side about a whole range of issues.

Hope that is of some interest.

If you'd like us to help you develop or market your web site please let us know on:

• Gold Coast: 07 5598 4898
• Brisbane: 07 3117 2588
• Outside Australia: 61 7 5598 4898

Brendon

Friday, July 21  

You've Probably Never Been Here Before

You've Probably Never Been Here Before

1. 54.5% of visitors are visiting for the first time.

2. And you probably found me through a Google search.

3. You may well have searched for

world's best web designer, or

brendon sinclair

3 Very Simple Stats

3 very simple stats - but interesting enough to allow me to change the content of this site to better meet the needs of those visiting.

I check my stats at least daily and make adjustments to the site almost dialy because of the ifnromation I get.

You have to have stats on your site otherwise you're missing a tremendous source of how to make your web site better.

Try Google Analytics (free and best) or Enterprise Logger.

Cheers

Brendon

My Lawyer Can Beat Up Your Lawyer

My Lawyer Can Beat Up Your Lawyer

Words make an incredible 1st impact.

Here's a copyright notice down the bottom of a web page I saw yesterday (I would reference it but I can't remember where it was!):


With that simple, quirky line it tells me (in my mind anyway) what sort of people this firm would be like to deal with.

Words are powerful - do the words on your site or marketing literature help or hinder you.

Cheers

Brendon

Are They Really The Competition?

Are They Really The Competition?

There are plenty of web developers around but I've never really seen them as our competitors. More like part of the local web community.

Sure, we might compete for the same clients every now and then, but we have different skills, different niches and different expertise much of the time.

One of our clients wanted his web site redesigned. They're clients we've had for years and who have been very happy with our work. We'd redesigned probably 4 different sites for the client (David).

"Let's Get A Fresh Eye......."

But with the latest redesign we just couldn't get it. After a lot of adjustments I said to David "Let's get a whole new designer to design the site - a fresh eye with some fresh ideas might be what we need."

So we called up Wez (who'd I had a coffee with previously and a chat about being in the web industry) over at NBM and asked him to deal direct with David on the design.


Wez Came Up With Some Terrific Designs

Wez did and came up with some terrific designs, including this one (right) that is the site now for David's Gold Coast (Main Beach) holiday resort.

Once done, Wez shot through the Photoshop files and we developed the rest of the site. Wez and his team were great and we may well use them again.

Rob from Australian Internet Solutions wrote to me earlier in the week asking us if we could help him out with some web design because he's built such a solid business that he's getting more enquires than he can handle.

I told Rob that we couldn't help him, but gave him Wez's details as someone who might.


2 Other Web Developers Have Helped Us Out This Week

And just yesterday we had Billy Kirkley from Brisbane Web Designers In House Business Solutions in the office for an interview for our podcast.

Billy's a great guy and I love chatting to him during the interview (it will be up on our podcast next week) and after when we shoot the breeze on web issues and pretty much tell each other how clever we are!

And earlier in the week I spoke with Mark Williams from Websites That Sell - another Brisbane web designer - and Mark was telling me how well the Click Calling works on his site (check it out on Mark's site).

• 'Competitors' in our industry, as with many others, could well be a source of business for your business.
• They can also be a great sounding board.
• And a great way to help you build your business.

Don't look upon them as the enemy - look upon them as part of your business community.

Cheers

Brendon

Thursday, July 20  

Take A Break

Take A Break

You deserve it.

Check out these sites:

http://www.dayofbirth.co.uk/

http://www.opentopia.com/sunlightmaprect.html

http://www.wugnet.com/myspeed/speedtest.asp

http://www.classicshorts.com/

http://www.family-portrait-artists.com/

http://www.davidahmed.com/makingmusic_flash.html

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, July 19  

And Here's A Great Example Of What I Just Said

And Here's A Great Example Of What I Just Said

Funny how these things happen just after I write about them.

I'm a member of the 'The Lord's Taverners' - a cricketing charity group who raise funds for disadvantaged and underprivileged youth.

One of the ways the charity raises money is via raffles.

In the mail today I received a letter with a raffle ticket:

"With only 250 tickets on offer at $50 each, I have taken the liberty of fowarding one of these raffle tickets to you for you to purchase."

Ha! How good is that - here's the ticket. Send us the money. None of this mucking around of "Please buying a ticket...." - just "Here it is, send us the money."

Now, whilst that wouldn't work in a lot of cases, it does here because I'm a member of the organisation and the gentleman who wrote the letter - Lew Cooper - is someone I know.

I wrote in the blog below:

• tell people
• show people
• do it for people

Lew has gone straight to the "Do it for people."

Perfect marketing. My $50 is on the way.

Cheers

Brendon

How To Get Exactly What You Want

How To Get Exactly What You Want

I was walking past a shoe shop in town the other day when I heard a voice call out "Brendon.......Brendon."

It was my wife in the shoe shop. I went in and had a chat. She handed me a pair of shoes she had been trying on.

"Can you give me these for my birthday?"

"Ummmmm, I don't have any money on me," I said.

So she handed me the money to pay for the shoes too.

(She's a good wife.)

That's How To Get Exactly What You Want

Make it 100% clear of what you want:

• tell people
• show people
• do it for people

It's the same with getting the right result from web sites.

• Tell people what you want them to do - and make it easy for them to do that.
• If it's in the slightest way difficult to do what you want them to do, show them (That's free trials or where web sites have "Click here for a demonstration").
• You can also do it for them - give them as many contact details as possible.

But most importantly, happy birthday to my wonderful wife Mel (left). My advice to any man is simple - get a wife like mine. It makes life easy.

(But keep your hands off mine.....she's taken!)

And yes, the sunflowers are flowers I bought her. That's rule # 1 for you youngsters out there reading this - buy your wife flowers on her birthday and at other times.

That way she'll think you're nicer than you probably are (it works for me).

Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, July 18  

It's Not About The Design Stupid

It's Not About The Design Stupid

A recent web site we did was a simple redesign and then we started on the content.

Main heading: Stated The Offer
Sub Heading 1: Promise Of Free Stuff If The Visitor Buys
Sub Heading 2: Testimonial

Results:

17 July: 9 sales
16 July: 12 sales
15 July: 10 sales
14 July: 3 sales
13 July: 7 sales
12 July: 7 sales
11 July: 7 sales
10 July: 15 sales

• The site had not made a sale in the previous year or so.
• We have not marketed the site since the redesign - the site gets the same number of visitors from the same sources it always has.
• I had a meeting on Friday with the client - she doesn't want to market the site as she can't handle any more sales.

The Design Is Important

Whilst the design of a web site is important - in as much as it needs to get the visitor to the information they want as quickly as possible - it's always about the content.

Provide a site with great content and your site will be successful. The design is less important than what you put on the site.

Remember that. It's important.

Cheers

Brendon

Monday, July 17  

Why I Probably Won't Buy My Wife Flowers For Her Birthday

Why I Probably Won't Buy My Wife Flowers For Her Birthday

It's my wonderful wife Mel's (left) birthday on Wednesday. I usually buy her flowers. In fact for the past 2 years I've used the same florist to buy her birthday flowers from. I ring up and say "I want to send my wife flowers for her birthday on the 19th July....etc, etc."

They get my contact details and take care of it for me. They charge my card. Everyone's happy.

Florists, jewellery stores, restaurants - they all are the type of businesses that have people far more likely to buy on set dates.

Send Customers Reminders - They'll Buy

So what you need to do if you have one of those businesses is set up a a simple contact relationship database (we use ACT!) and send reminders to your customers based on when their special days are coming up.

Imagine if my florist had of, over the past year, made a note of customer purchases. Let's say they make 5 anniversary type sales per day. At $50 each.

Let's say they email or call 5 customers a day with whatever is relevant:

"Hey Brendon, Mel's birthday on the 19th. You sent roses last year - would you like a gorgeous dozen sent again? We have some beautiful roses in at this time of year.... I'll pop in some gift chocolates just for her too."

Let's say you only make 50% of those sales. That's an extra $32,500 per annum in sales. That can be the difference between success or failure for a little florist business.

It ain't rocket science.

Cheers

Brendon

How to Find Good Staff

How to Find Good Staff

It's hard to find good staff. No question about it.

Seth Godin tells the story of fronting up to the reception desk of a spa/hairdresser and the receptionist looking up at him and asking "Are you here for a haircut?"

That doesn't seem that funny....unless you see Seth. The top of his head looks like this:

So he probably doesn't need a haircut!

So how do you find good staff - here's the best I could come up with - Why, oh why, do people spend 4-5 years at University, but they can't get a job? - it's an article I wrote a few years ago.

Cheers

Brendon

Friday, July 14  

Here's How To Get Guaranteed Top Search Engine Listings

Here's How To Get Guaranteed Top Search Engine Listings

Getting top search engine rankings can be an enormous business boon - not only for direct sales or leads, but also for the very positive branding effects (an old report but a good one) a top position gives.


And here's the secret to achieving top search engine rankings:

Make your site the absolute best, most useful, informative and resource packed web site in your industry or niche.

Then you'll achieve top search engine rankings.

No tricks. No sneaky stuff. No strategies that will get you banned.
Just a solid commitment to developing a great web site.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: search engine promotion

Pre-Qualify People Before They Click

Pre-Qualify People Before They Click

Pay per click advertising can be very, very effective.

Here's a little 'trick' that you might like to use:

Pre-qualify people before they click your ad.

For example, let's say you have a $300 per night motel and are looking for bookings.

Mention the price in your ad's heading to prequalify the visitor.

"Pure Luxury From Just $300 Per Night"

That way you won't get bargain hunters/people searching for $50 a night hotels clicking on your ad and wasting your advertising money.

The only people who click the ad and visit your site are those people who know it is $300 per night but are interested anyway.

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, July 12  

Our Web Sites Cost At Least $5,000, Our Competitors Cost $900

Our Web Sites Cost At Least $5,000, Our Competitors Cost $900

At the moment we're doing 8 web sites sites. Only one is below $5,000 (it's $4,400).

I was looking at competitor sites last night and man, are they cheap! A lot of them do a 10 page web design for $900. And the sites can look okay.

I look at that pricing and just shake my head. There is no way possible we could do a web site for that. It takes us 10 hours+ just to analyse a prospect's wants and needs and to figure out the best way to market the site and then put forward a detailed proposal.

That's $1,000 right there before we even start!

What Often Happens

And when you're competing on price, you're basically screwed. There's always someone who will do it cheaper. So your price goes down, down, down.

I can't tell you the number of times clients have had us redevelop web sites after their previous web developer went out of business.

You Need To Make A Profit

Because web development is mainly a young industry, there are many web designers working from home, just starting out in business, with almost no overheads. And that's fine.

Except they price themselves too cheap. Then they can't make decent money. Then they can't stay in business.

"I've Spent 3 Weeks On This!"

One of our old clients has just developed a new web site. She wanted to do it herself and has done so with a DIY site builder bit of software.

It's only a small site, but it has taken her 3 weeks to complete. You see, even a small site is a lot of work.

It's not how cheap you can get the web site. It's how effective the web site is that counts.

It's not just about how it looks. it's about how long it takes to load, how well it gets ranked in search engines, how effective the copy is at getting people to stay on the site, how many people buy, etc, etc.

It's never about price. It's always about value.

Brendon

Gold Coast Half Marathon Video Added To Google

Gold Coast Half Marathon Video Added To Google

I ran the Gold Coast Half Marathon last week - before the event I did a 10 minute video of the site I put on this page.

To see how the process goes with Google Video we also submitted the video. It took 5 days to be approved (including the weekend). The quality is great and it streams in well.

Click the image below to check it out on Google.


Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, July 11  

Employ An Expert - Then Get The Hell Out Of The Way

Employ An Expert - Then Get The Hell Out Of The Way!

If you read this web site regularly, or listen to our podcast, you might remember me mentioning a site we redid where the client didn't like what we'd done. She changed her mind on agreeing to the site design and the strategy we'd devised.

I eventually talked her around to testing our new design and strategy.

The deal was that if the site didn't make 2 sales a day by the 3 month mark, then I'd give her her money back and redo the site how she wanted it - which was how the site was when we took it over. It had never made a sale in 12 months.

(The client thought I was being way too optimistic.)

At The 3 Month Mark

Today was the 3 month mark.

Her sales today? 21 (may have been a bit more or a bit less because she struggles to ask all phone enquiries where they heard of her business).

Sales have been huge pretty much from Day 1. The 21 sales today gave her double the money she spent on the entire web site! (Heh, I'm far too cheap!)

The Point Isn't To Brag

But the point isn't to brag. Okay, okay....maybe it is.

The real point is this. If you employ an expert, trust them. Get them to do what they do best and Get The Hell Out Of The Way!

(If you don't trust them to do a great job, don't employ them.)

• My most successful sites ever have been the 2 biggest sites we've done for ourselves.
• The next best have been for clients who said "You know what you're doing, just do it."

And that's no surprise.

Cheers

Brendon

Don't You Hate It When.....

Don't You Hate It When.....

......the comments on a blog post are better than the blog post itself!

Dave Starr is a regular contributor on this site and always has something insightful to add. Here's Dave's take on this blog post about the importance of being able to spell correctly.


Dave's Comment

"I got a good chuckle out of Peter's comment. But it is a good business lesson, humor aside. I would have never guessed that a mistake like that would have meant so much to the women who just casually observed it. And, I would have been wrong, big time.

I too make a lot of errors in spelling and a few in grammar. I've redoubled my efforts to track them down before sending out things like blog posts or comments that may have a life of years in the blogosphere. Apparently, I need to increase my efforts even more.

The Guinness Book of World Records listed Joe Girard as the "World's Greatest Retail Salesman" for 12 consecutive years. He holds the singular distinction of having sold an average of six cars a day over his career. In several of Joe's books he makes the point that his experience indicates the average customer or potential customer influences 200 people (family, work, church, social contacts, etc.) So that little innocent mistake on the sign negatively influenced as many as 600 potential clients of the hairdressing salon. Sure puts proofreading in a different light.

A fellow I follow in the online business world makes a lot of money from AdSense and other online ventures. He writes an interesting blog. His writing often jars folks though because he can't even follow standard rules of English such as knowing when to use their, there or they're. I wrote to him about this and he came back with an wimpy sort of comment about how he had not had the opportunity for a decent education.

In my view, a such excuses won't cut it. You are what you write in this mainly text-based world. If you want to be taken seriously you need to take your reader seriously. Personally, I plan to do better."

Visit Dave's site here.

Cheers

Brendon

Phishing Via A Phone Line

Phishing Via A Phone Line

It had to happen - with the advent of very cheap calls via Voice Over IP technology, spammers are now using the phone.


View the News article here.

Cheers

Brendon

Monday, July 10  

Essential Web Pages For Your Site

Essential Web Pages For Your Site

When people ask us for a web site quote they'll often say "We want to sell our stuff online - we only need a 3 page site."

Actually, you probably need more pages than that. Depending on who your merchant facility is with (that is who processes the credit cards) you'll need these sort of pages just to comply with the Merchant Approval Terms & Conditions:

1. Privacy Policy
2. Refund Policy
3. Security Policy
4. Terms & Conditions
5. Contact Us
6. Shipping Policy

Keep that in mind when you develop your e-commerce store.

Regards

Brendon

Friday, July 7  

Why Some Words Are Better Than Others (& Can Make You A Fortune)

Why Some Words Are Better Than Others (& Can Make You A Fortune)

If you have a web site you probably have a search engine marketing strategy. That is, you target specific words on your web site so that your pages show up high in Google, MSN and Yahoo's rankings.

For example, if I sell digital cameras I would want to come up # 1 when someone goes to Google and searches for "digital camera".

Because about 2,500,000 searches are done each month for "digital camera" on Google.


Keyword Research Is The Key

So when you do your keyword research you'll identify lots of keywords that people search on.

Let's say you identify these 10 keywords for your camera store:

1. digital camera
2. camera digital camera
3. canon digital camera
4. sony digital camera
   
5. nikon digital camera
6. kodak digital camera
7. light digital camera
8. small digital camera
9. underwater digital camera
10. video digital camera

The you add some qualifiers:

1. best
2. compare
3. quality
4. rating
5. compact
6. discount
7. best value
8. cheap
9. smallest
10. professional

Add 10 qualifiers to our main 10 keywords and all of a sudden we have 100 keywords.

i.e.

1. best digital camera
2. best camera digital camera
3. best canon digital camera
4. best sony digital camera
5. best nikon digital camera
6. best kodak digital camera
7. best light digital camera
8. best small digital camera
9. best underwater digital camera
10. best video digital camera

Now that's all well and good, but they're different sort of keywords.

• Some keywords are more specific than others.
• Some keywords are more likely to result in a sale.

For instance, "digital camera" would definitely be a keyword worth developing a page around. After all, 2,500,000 searches per month is a lot!

But "compact digital camera" might not be worth developing a page for specifically (it gets 5,000 searches per month) BUT it would definitely be worth including in your list of keywords if you take Google AdWords - so then your ad shows up when someone searches for "compact digital camera".


Keyword Research Must Be The Cornerstone Of Your Online Marketing Strategy

Keyword research must be the cornerstone of your online marketing strategy because it's the aspect that has the potential to get well-qualified searchers to your web site.

Here's where to make a start:

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
http://www.nccboston.com/keyword-tool.html
http://www.wordtracker.com
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox
http://www.google.com/trends

Regards

Brendon

Labels: search engine promotion

Thursday, July 6  

Stuff Matters

Stuff Matters

On Saturday night I went for dinner with some friends to a local Thai restaurant. We were sitting outside in an Arcade type set up when one of the women in the group (there were 6 of us at dinner) noticed this sign on the window of a Beauty Salon.



The 3 wives at the table then had a discussion on how they would never use that Beauty Therapist because of the bad spelling of the word "appreciate".

I Wouldn't Trust Them

"I wouldn't trust them," was the common thinking.

It's a great idea putting the sign up. But not great if you make an error that turns people away.

I see a lot of marketing related stuff, but even I was amazed that the women said that the sign had so negatively impacted on the that they wouldn't visit the store.

Brendon

(And yep, I know I make lots of mistakes with my spelling. And yep, I know it's important stuff.)

Wednesday, July 5  

Who The Hell Is Anthony Dever & Why Should I Listen To Him?

Who The Hell Is Anthony Dever & Why Should I Listen To Him?

Okay, take a look here. See the comment from some guy called Anthony Dever. Oooooooh.

"This is who I say who you should get, Brendon. Oooooh I'm so good, I'm Anthony Dever! I was interviewed by Amanda Keller. I started the Fuglies. Ooooooooh."

So what Clown Boy! Who the hell is Anthony Dever and why should I listen to Anthony Dever?

A guy so afraid of commitment he states on his own web site: "The views expressed by him in conversation, via email or in public are his own except those views that disappoint you."

Just Kidding Anthony - I Love You Really

Just kidding Anthony - relax!

I'm never met Anthony Dever. I've spoken with him briefly, but never met him. I invited him to lunch one day, but he turned me down (and I was buying!).

But I listen when Anthony speaks. Because when we have had dealings together, he's been nothing short of bloody great. He steered me in the direction of a great domain name.

A domain name that got me thinking. A domain name that, used the right way, could be the biggest part of our business.

So when Anthony says "I recommend Amanda Newbery from BBS http://www.bbspr.com.au as a quality PR professional here in QLD", I know it's not some clown trying to get a link in for Amanda.

I know it's not some friend of Amanda's trying to get her noticed just for the sake of it.

It's Anthony. So I know that Amanda will be professional, effective and very good at what she does. And I'll seriously look at Amanda and see if she's the right fit for what we'll be trying to achieve, because Anthony said she's good.

And that's good enough for me.

Testimonials Equal Credibility

You see, testimonials from credible sources are the absolute best advertising you can get.

Get those and your business will prosper.

Regards

Brendon

Tuesday, July 4  

I'm Not Sure If They'll Get It

I'm Not Sure If They'll Get It

I'm about to launch a major new business and have been thinking of using a PR company to help us spread the message. We need someone up-to-date, innovative, unique, outlandish, daring, and more.

A friend gave me such a company's name today. He didn't have their number.

No problem. I'll find them online. Easy. You'd think.

• No web site.
• No blog.
• No nothing.

That worries me. If they're a PR firm without a web presence, maybe they just don't get it?

Brendon

Always Be Nice To The Reception Team - Here's Why

Always Be Nice To The Reception Team

This is an obvious one. The lesson really should be, always be nice to everyone when you're doing business.

One of our clients has just sold his multi-million business to his Receptionist.

• She wants a bit of a revamp of some current marketing strategies.
• She likes us because she's seen us in action before, she knows us and we've treated her as the important person she is.
• We got the job.

It's important to make friends. Friends are good to have and it can be good for business (sounds a bit cynical, but in action you tend to make friends with clients over the years in my sort of business - not for any business motive, but just because they're nice people).

Cheers

Brendon

A Better Way To Select TV Shows To Develop

A Better Way To Select TV Shows To Develop

There was a TV pilot shot recently that didn't make the cut. It was dumped before it got to air.

But someone, somewhere liked it. Liked it enough to slice up the show and upload it in 3 parts to YouTube.com.

It's called "Nobody's Watching" and is about a couple of friends who want to make a sitcom. It's a reality show about them wanting to make the sitcom, in fact.

So far, on YouTube, almost 300,000 people have viewed the show. It's one of the most discussed videos. One of the most watched.

A Good Enough Reason To Go Into Production

300,000 people watching a pilot and heavily discussing it. That's a good enough audience for me to say "Yep, let's push this show into production."

And from a marketing perspective, the show now has a story - it would be forever known as 'the show the Internet saved'. That alone gives it a point of difference. People would watch it a few times just to see what all the fuss was about (I have).

Maybe this is the start of the power of what gets shown on TV moving into the hands of the audience?

Cheers

Brendon

Why Social Networks Are So Popular

Why Social Networks Are So Popular

Because of the recent running I've done I've been visiting a few running type forums. One thing I always enjoy seeing is the fantastic sense of community these places build up.

I have been reading a few posts and people have been talking about injuries - whether it's aching legs, foot fungus, runner's bowel or simple aches and pains.

And the interesting thing is this: foot fungus antifungal treatment might not be the most pleasant condition to discuss, but it will be discussed with great sincerity. Same with runner's bowel. Same with simple aches.

Because these people have developed relationships- never mind that they've probably never met - based on a mutual interests there is a real sense of closeness between them.

And that's why social networks, like Cool Running, like MySpace, like many forums, will continue to flourish.

Because essentially we're social beings. We like talking with others. We like sharing our experiences. We believe what others say, rather than believe an add.

It's why word-of-mouth is the absolute best form of advertising. Because it's believed. Because it's trusted.

As a marketer, if you have a business you need to be part of social networks. Are you?

Cheers

Brendon

Monday, July 3  

Run & Won

Run & Won

The Half Marathon has been run and won. Surprisingly I didn't win. Who would have thought that an unfit 39 year old wouldn't have strolled to victory just because he wanted to??!

I ended up running 2:11:34, which is 5 minutes slower than what I was hoping for. And considering I used to run 3 hour marathons 10 years ago, is very slow. But I guess that's why people train - to get faster!

There was about 4,500 in the race and it was quite a sight to see them stretched out for miles along the course.

Here are the results: http://res.championchip.co.nz/default.asp?id=1027

Cheers

Brendon

Saturday, July 1  

This Just In From Yet Another Lady Fan

This Just In From Yet Another Lady Fan

Click the photo to enlarge.

Good luck to those doing the race tomorrow.

Cheers

Brendon

10 Ways I'll Win The Gold Coast Airport Half Marathon On Sunday (the # 1 way)