First though, aside from doing regular manual checks for multiple terms, how can we determine how often we show up on page one of Google?

Search Grader is Here

We’ve spoken before of the neat tools provided by Hubspot in the US. Last week they added a new one called search grader. This simple new tool appears to examine your site for your key terms, products or services, then looks at how often you appear on page one.  For most NZ websites it’s not good news.

The typical results tells me that whatever time and money most businesses have put into their website so far has been ineffective and largely a wasted effort. Worse than that, the planning and additional effort needed to fix things may be considerable – Often well beyond the skills of their existing provider.

Most local small business websites I put in had a search grading score of zero, or no data – Which means the ability for these sites to show up on page one and go beyond a thousand visitors per month is small. A good NZ small business website should be getting over 2,000 website visits per month, with 5,000 or more being the ideal in many sectors.

Left are the monthly traffic figures from a local, well-established website and business that has a superb online profile, plus make good use of Google AdWords. They regularly appear at the top of page one on Google.

The second is more typical of NZ business website in a similar sized market, running a poorly built and maintained site, that seldom appears on page one. Lucky to get to page two.  Most of those clicks that did come via organic search (221) already knew them, since according to Google analytics, they put the company name into the Google search box.

Note too both companies above are using Google AdWords which is good and should level the playing field. But one AdWords account was far better setup, optimised and had a decent budget, resulting in almost ten times the clicks. (1,478 vs 165). Adwords only works well when it’s done right, which is why half of Adwords users love it, getting loads of leads, the others tell us it’s hopeless.

Beyond the clicks

But it’s not just getting more traffic and click-throughs. There’s millions of websites worldwide that get loads of traffic, but few sales or business results.

The design and offer shown must be good and on-site data collection systems in place – Which is rare for most websites. The trick to sales and conversions is having ample ways for the visitor to ENGAGE and for you to capture their details and respond via various channels. Having the standard brochure-style 5-page website around products, services, about us and a contact page isn’t nearly enough today. Here’s yet another Hubspot tool that will help give you ideas on what’s needed…

Get your 2012 Website ‘to do’ list

Hubspot again have provided some new tools to help, a new one called marketing grader. It provides a quick analysis and checklist of what’s going wrong with your site and details a great ‘to do’ list.

Yes, But I Get My New Business From Referrals

This is a common cry. “It’s doesn’t matter that i don’t come up high in Google,  most of my new business comes from personal client referrals” This can be valid, since referrals have always been and will remain a strong driver of new business.

However, to ignore the thousands of people actively using Google each month to search for your companies products or services is foolish. It’s like not being in the Yellow Pages twenty years ago, when Yellow was the primary tool used. Now it’s Google and showing up on page one is the only objective.  Coming in second (on page two) doesn’t count…

We know what’s wrong – Now let’s fix it

All this shows there’s ample tools available to tell us what’s going wrong with websites and our online strategies. Why you’re not being found online. Why your website sucks. The trick is whether you’ll then do anything about it. We can help you in this process.

We’ll start by helping you better understanding the Hubspot and Google tools. Analyse what’s wrong and then work out  plan to fix it. Give us a call or email zn.oc.gnitekramizenull@nivek

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p.s. Many request us to help their existing web designer to fix things to get more traffic since even after using the Hubspot plus other related Google Analytics and AdWords toolsets, they’re at a loss on what to actually do. Where to start. Their skill is in design, not coding, copywriting or SEO.

In some cases training or partnering with them in the rebuild is an excellent option – Especially when those currently involved accept that things need to change and are willing to learn. We work closely with several designers who see the benefits.  But many other times this doesn’t happen and everyone one gets horribly defensive – Defending the status quo, even though it isn’t working.

In these cases, to move forward, you’ll have to dismiss your existing website designer and/or host company and start again. Similarly any money you’re presently wasting on Yellow Pages online. Look at them like any paid employee who isn’t pulling their weight. It’s results that count today, not talk…

But another person, especially to a small business, is a huge overhead costs and a huge risk should the wrong person is hired. It seldom costs less that $70,000 a year by the time all related costs and sales commissions are factored in. That’s  an average of $5,800 per month!

Forget the technology – Think about How to Sell

Here’s another more practical, ‘less geeky’ strategy. What if that same money (say $5k per month) were spent on online marketing and sales? e.g. Website articles, email, e-storefront sales, AdWords etc, together with some good old fashioned follow-up techniques from the 60s. The answer may surprise.

Here’s an old audio clip from veteran marketing guru Winston Marsh in Australia. Winston works with all media channels. Here’s his view on how the internet can be better used by small business. It was recorded a few years back, but the tips and strategies are still valid today. Even more now, as the internet is such a major part of the sales process.

Winston Marsh Tips

One new client was spending around $350 per week for around 80-90 new visitors per day which they were happy with.  With an average cost of 75c per click.

This seemed high to me, even though they were in a very competitive market. After a few days of fine tuning (and a cost to them of $1200 which included setting up Googles Analytics), we managed to get it down to around 45c per click, for the same number of site visitors. A saving that added up to $800 per month. With a bit more work and localisation, we can likely increase the number of qualified visitors too.

This I think is typical of clients that do their own AdWords and online advertising. Google too likely prefers this too as they make more money. It also explains why surveys indicate that half of AdWords users love Google AdWords, the other half think it’s largely a waste of money and poor value.

It’s NOT THE TOOLS, it’s how we use them.

This is the case with most new technologies, especially online. New Zealanders especially are also reluctant to bring in experts. We’re real do-it-ourselves merchants, which can be costly. We love the thought of trying things ourselves, to ‘save money’…

However SEO, like building business websites is something that requires experts today.

Another example came from an enquiry from a local who had built their own eCommerce store, using the amazing Bigcommerce.com platform we use and recommend. Certainly, many good storefronts have been built by amateurs over the years.

In this instance she had taken several months of late nights to understand the system, get the site working right, all to sell just a few specialty items – If she had asked for help, (cost of around $1200 for this basic shop site), it could have all been running within a few days. Was the money saved by doing it herself worth all the frustration and long delays? In fact in this case, Bigcommerce wasn’t even the best option. It’s really best for larger stores of 50+ items.

No place for DIY amateurs or IT people

I guess this is the basic problem with DIY when it comes to online. There’s too much to learn. Too many tricks that the DIY enthusiast cannot do or understand. Strangely, those websites built by ‘IT people’ are often the worst. These highly knowledgeable and expert computer geeks are good at setting up computers, software, email and networks, but very seldom make good websites. The internet, design, search or CMS websites are not covered in their core training.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for helping clients do more with their stores or websites, especially adding in their own content and stories each week that get’s them a better search ranking. But the design and building of a professional site that gets found is generally beyond most. It’s a high-risk strategy that results in a site that may look okay, but is seldom found in a search result, hence few sales or leads….

Hey, this isn’t always the end result for self-built websites and stores. There’s similar horror stories around ‘professional built’ websites too!!! Read my blog article

Our industry-leading WordPress CMS platform provides us the ideal package to do all this and much more. The downside, if there is one, is that these advanced ‘features’ cost more than ‘brochure’ sites.

Webforms go upmarket – And open up opportunities

But some of these new features have a fast payback. Websites are no longer just for ‘marketing’ and for online branding. They can perform valuable functions that presently take companies lots of time and expense. Webforms is the best example.

These basic tools have been around for 20 years, included on websites to capture name, and email address.  But like any technology, it’s all much smarter now. Business options and better layouts.

Left is one form we built for a loans company. A very complex, multi-page form, yet it took under a week to build. Once it would have taken several weeks of coding and testing. And many IT people even today, given this chore by company management, would turn it into a 3 month project!  But it’s really a web development chore, not an IT task.

Today we must also allow for viewing websites on mobiles. Website designers have been slow to allow for mobile viewing, using poor layout and coding techniques – Meaning forms particularly look wrong or are hard to navigate.

Yet this new ‘mobidata’ opportunity can be a VERY powerful feature for thousands of businesses. Think of the number of times sales reps or support people are in the field using paper forms and pads today. This then has to be manually re-entered into a CRM or other system back at the office.

We had a rep for a big power company sign us up recently, and I was stunned they still did it all with paper forms! It’s not a legal requirement now, in case you thought that a factor and there’s electronic ways of gathering signatures, if required. Delivery/courier companies have been using this for years, with expensive proprietary hardware and customised systems.

Instant, ‘on the cheap’ form filling and data capture

Now data capture can be done much more cheaply using consumer smartphones, tablets, and our smart webforms. Here’s an example of how it works.

Custom-built forms are simply built into a private, super-secure website, used specifically by approved company or contract staff to collect data. (Public access optional). Everything is tracked and stored. Data can also be automatically ‘pushed’ into company CRM systems like Salesforce! The timeliness, accuracy and cost savings of this feat alone can be immense.  No more paper wars or the manual re-entering of data. It’s the perfect option for entering sales orders, general enquiries or surveys.

In-house or on the road

These devices could be used in-house via WiFi, or remotely on the road via the phones normal 3G connection. The Apple iPad with 3G + Wifi is perfect for large forms or lower cost 7” tablets that all have built-in web browsers also ideal for large forms use. These devices are the really big opportunity to slash the cost of livetime data collection. The HTC Flyer device shown below, with stylus option and built-in camera, looks the most interesting option. 

HTC pricing for the 3G version is NZ$900 here, but 30% cheaper in Auzzie, being approx half the cost of an iPad.  (WiFi versions start at AU$394). For those on a budget the upcoming Amazon Kindle Fire USD$199, (WiFi only) is another option and we expect Amazons to sell these worldwide in 2012.

A good, mobile-optimised webform can completely eliminate the need to build an iPhone or Android ‘app’ too, which is all the rage and some believe is essential for this sort of thing. But a well designed webform is automatically optimised for ALL modern mobile device browsers, including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows and most Nokia devices, saving weeks of needless development time/costs. And form changes can be done very quickly, avoiding the need for users to download App updates.

Incredible. Call us for details and talk through ideas on how our 100% mobile-optimised webforms can help your business collect data and better serve your customers. 

Independent case studies are rare, but here’s one from Brisbane. You’ll now discover the relative leads generated and costs across Yellow, Google Adwords and general website listings.

N.B. This 5 minute video is one of the best introductions to search marketing you’ll find.

What surprises most people with these particular results, aside from the huge number of leads generated by online search marketing/advertising, is the large number leads coming from Googles ‘pay-per-click’ Adwords, being 2-3 times higher than organic SEO. Most SEO experts will tell you that ‘organic SEO’ not AdWords, provides more leads and is much better value. However this case clearly proves otherwise.

“But the Yellow Rep said they also Show up in Google”

The sales pitch from Yellow implies that a listing with them is all you need, since a Yellow pages online listing also shows up within Google. You don’t need to worry – A Yellow listing ‘does it all’ for you...

Our example Archer Glass above happily spent big money with both Google and Yellow, but only one in ten leads came back from Yellow. His monthly leads averaged 830 from Google versus 88 from Yellow. Effective cost per lead worked out at AU$9.49 with Yellow versus AU$2.38 with Google. (Note his ‘cost per clicks’ may seem high. This is sometimes the case when advertising a ‘mainstream’ item like glass. Other more specialized, niche market products or services are typically under $1.00 per click).

The above example also confirms that Yellow ads do sometimes ‘show up’ within a Google search page either as paid ads or generic listings. (More on this in the video below). But this real-world case showed that the majority of online sales leads still come via Google directly, not Yellow.

This means that if you’re a business that relies solely on Yellow for online leads, the lost sales opportunities are huge, since Yellow is only capturing 10% of local consumers searching for business products and services online!

We do note the pricing model used by Yellow in Australia is more costly than here, but the relative traffic numbers between Google and Yellow is almost identical worldwide. This means that if Yellow.co.nz is currently providing you say a modest 10-12 leads per month, then getting setup with Google AdWords, Maps and SEO efforts could easily provide a local business 50-60 leads, for a similar monthly spend…

Think of ‘Yellow’ as a magazine with say 10,000 readers. But ‘Google’ has 100,000 readers and better pricing. Who should you advertise with?

And consumers prefer Google, because it works better

It’s not just about Yellow and the deals they can offer their clients. It’s a sad fact that Yellows older technology and biased listing practices doesn’t help their own customers or more importantly, consumers who want to use Yellow to find a local business. This specific problem has been investigated by our favourite SEO guru Jim Stewart in Melbourne. Note the NZ Yellow pages technology and listing strategy is very similar.

From Jim’s tests, there’s little chance of an appropriate Yellow local listing showing up on Google since it’s just too many clicks away for most people. And from what he’s discovered, there’s few relevant local listings appearing on the first page of Yellow either, which frustrates users, due to the way they bias their entire displayed results to the customers that pay more.*

The Brisbane case study seemingly re-confirms all this, together with examples given in our own seminars (here) across most industry sectors. Yellows system is simply outdated and not intuitive or helpful compared with Googles and not good for those people doing a quick search…

Google doesn’t work this way, instantly providing the most relevant results to users within their amazing Google Maps & Local Business Listings, high up on page one, shown right.

Yet another reason most use Google, not Yellow.

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* Google does preferential high value listings too with pay-per-click AdWords, but unlike Yellow, limits it to a couple at the top of the page or those down the right hand side.

SEO and the ability of a website to ‘be found’ by Google is ever-changing. Unfortunately design schools seldom teach the intricacies of search marketing – Which is why most small business websites today are ranked low by Google and will never get to Page One.

Too many website designers still cling to the ‘old rules’ and unaware of the major changes Google instituted in mid 2010 which sent even SEO ‘experts’ into a spin. Claims that "the small guys have been snuffed out" (news article).

Good Looks Don’t Help You Get Found Online

Business owners can only look at the visual appearance of their site, believing that a ‘nice looking’ website will automatically be found online. However to Google, the site ‘look’ and appearance is totally irrelevant. There’s plenty of examples of where a competitor running an inexpensive, plain website, but expertly SEO optimised and with a strong message obtains much more traffic!

Looks and branding are important for credibility, but it doesn’t help a website get found, or in itself generate traffic or sales.

The standard SEO ‘strategy’ for most designers is to just drop in a few metatag ‘keywords’ and descriptions into the header of the website. Although everyone I know does this, it simply doesn’t work now and since 2002 meta keywords have been ignored by Google. (reference here). Similarly those who encourage loading up a domain with lots of irrelevant, poor quality backlinks that can get you banned by Google.

Dirty Little Secrets of Search / Bad Web Designers

Our favourite Auzzie SEO colleague Jim Stewart (left) summed up many of the business and web design problems around search marketing and Google in a very frank video podcast on 15th Feb.

Poorly optimised websites certainly are an issue today – Especially annoying when those sites that have cost business owners many thousands of dollars. All emphasis on looks or branding with none on ‘being found’.

Like Jim, we can either rebuild an existing website to be more ‘Google-friendly’ or can sometimes work in with local or offshore web designers who ‘see the light’ and are open to changing their ways. (details here).

Why Change? Why is this occurring?

Well, Google is changing things to make the search experience better and more relevant for the user. This means it’s not just about ‘optimising the website’ itself (which is seldom done correctly, as Jim pointed out), but equally about building up a company’s online profile and reputation across relevant third party websites, directories and customer reviews.

According to word coming out of Google, the number of customer ‘likes’ or positive consumer recommendations a company has online (especially directories and social media sites), will soon have more influence to getting to Page One, than the number of traditional ‘backlinks’ a website has. We already see this occurring in the restaurant sector with those having the best online reviews getting more business.

It makes sense for Google to do this, since it means that the websites it serves up at the top of the page will be better and more trustworthy – Give a better product or service, based upon consumer feedback.

So, what’s your Online Report Card? Is your Web Designer any good?

Our free competitor analysis service which includes a website SEO grading/review will help you discover what’s right (and wrong) with your website presence and company website. See if your web designer really knows what he/she is doing to help you get more business and sales leads.

“It’s like watching a train wreak happening… Very few business will not have been affected in some way by the internet, and they really need to look at their business model.”

The words of technology commentator Nigel Horrocks in a recent Radio NZ interview. (27th Jan 2011). He talked of retailers here and in Australia, and their denial over the effects of the internet and customer buying trends on store sales.

Is it as bad here? Maybe we can learn from the Australians. Have a listen…

Nigel Horrocks, RNZ 27th Jan 2010

“…Customers expect to be able to go online and see what retailers have in stock”

Auzzie retailers were recently asking the government to change the rules to stop eBay enticing customers away, (read more) – To essentially help make up for their own lack of foresight and eCommerce planning.

The web is all about offering better service, not just throwing up a pretty looking website with no good sales strategy behind it. A good website is never a static brochure or ‘branding’ exercise. People visit websites for a purpose, like seeing what they have available, before they hop in the car…

Some online-only stores have done well. But getting traditional small or large retail stores to add in an online catalogue or e-store has met considerable resistance. Consumers though are not falling behind, spending almost as much time online as consumers do in the US!

However cost and complexity is obviously an issue with small businesses. $10,000-$25,000 is a typical cost to setup a professional online shop. The big chains often invest ten times this amount. But it not just the upfront costs. These systems all need constant work to keep them up to date, with some stores hiring a dedicated IT person to do it. More overhead…

For small retailers this strategy isn’t always viable. The cost of building the ecommerce webstore for a small retailer may be more than the likely income generated per year. But a superb start-up alternative is our self-managed $2,000 catalogue-only website (read more). It’s a great online service and has real wow factor, as well as focusing on bringing customers into the physical store.

Once you’ve seen the benefits and added sales volumes, you can then better plan for your full eCommerce site… Also ref: Amnesia Blog

Jim’s View

Nigels comments were somewhat echoed by our resident SEO guru in Melbourne.

But buying categories isn’t very effective. Below is an example of how Adwords works best, showing a local furniture store running an Adwords promotion. Note they have several stores and Google has integrated maps with the listing! Amazing stuff.

As a general rule, we recommend you use Adwords for specific promotions or events – Not so much for ‘advertising of my business’ as Yellow and all other directories push. Your Google Maps/Places page and website does that as part of your ‘organic’ search placement

The other reason for doing this is cost. It’s predicted that Pay-per-click (AdWords) costs, through competition, will rise by up to 50% in 2011 (read more).  All the more reason to target phrases related to a specific promotional campaign and use more email promotions to existing clients. Targeted keywords, means online Adwords PPC costs should be lower.

Begin using paid search for specific weekly store promotions too, just as businesses often do with local newspaper advertising.

Keeping it Personal

Adwords, plus special matching promotion landing pages on your website is all you need – Our self-managed websites makes this bit really easy. Better still, our email marketing options do this too, providing full tracking, followup sequences and due to advanced personalisation, amazing response rates. (left).

Getting the Right Keywords

But the real secret to success with Adwords they say is getting the right keywords. That’s true and there’s thousands of websites and books on this very topic. However their theories often conflict as many ‘SEO Gurus’ simply aren’t up with the times, proposing practices long outdated. We can help do this for you, using some of the best SEO brains in Australasia.

Search – An extension of your other marketing activities

Lastly, here’s some uncommon wisdom and cunning ideas for small business owners from SEO guru Bruce Clay. He describes where search actually fits in your marketing portfolio.

From a business perspective, you need to be where your customers are. Although online search and your website are major drivers of new sales for small business, close behind are Facebook and Youtube… For those businesses with walk-in traffic, looking to build a community and get interaction with their customers, Facebook is the clear leader.

Facebook for Business

Being on Facebook has multiple small business benefits. It provides a highly interactive page that few traditionally designed websites can offer as well as referrals. Critically, just having a Facebook page can help your Google ranking too, meaning more sales leads. Some have seen a 15-20% improvement!

How do you setup a Facebook page? Debbie Mayo Smith shows you in this video.

Checkout Debbies’ small business ‘how to’ booklet, Make your Database Your Gold Mine. (click below)

Social media is for the consumer

Don’t believe everything you hear about facebook from marketing or online ‘gurus’. Facebook is not strictly a business marketing platform. Facebook is a consumer platform, largely replacing the less powerful community forums and blog commenting used a few years back. Facebook is where teenagers in Melbourne, customers in Auckland, and prospective buyers in Christchurch all have the same opportunity to voice their opinions, ask questions, and share experiences.  Consumers are in control of the message.

Facebook Advertising

However like Google, Facebook offer Advertising too, which you have some control over.

According to recent studies, Facebook Ads in some sectors is more effective than Google Adwords – And both many times more cost-effective than Yellow pages, print or radio ads. It’s just that 99% of small businesses don’t know it’s an option.

As outlined in the short video, left, Facebook also has demographic profiles of its users. This makes it quite different from Google. As in any advertising channel, we suggest you try both Google Adwords and Facebook ads and see what works best. Most likely you’ll end up using both in the same way people in the past would advertise in local newspapers as well as industry magazines. Each has its own audience.

Facebook Apps

Facebook also has a huge number of add-ons, enhancements and ability for developers and talented  individuals write their own ‘apps’ to alter the look or functionality of your own Facebook page. For example, the ability to integrate email signup forms, even mini shopping carts! We’ll be introducing these as new Ezimarketing services later this year.

Where Facebook fits

Here’s some interesting background – Surveys show that people generally fan Facebook pages they are already customers of, and usually for discounts. The same research shows that few people are interested in joining a page to become part of a community.

Consider Facebook as a tool in your ‘referral engine’ – if your Fans are happy customers, Facebook makes it easy for them to recommend you to friends and to provide your business with ‘social proof’ i.e. people saying nice things about you. This is where you have the opportunity to organically grow your audience, powered by happy customers. Good reviews on your Facebook page will send people to your website to make a final purchase decision or to seek more information.

We suggest that you use Facebook to connect with your existing customers AFTER they’ve already bought from you – rather than trying to use Facebook to mine for leads, which is what traditional marketers seem to do, simply because they [incorrectly] see Facebook as just another marketing channel, not a consumer-driven ‘chatroom’.

This connection after the purchase is obviously the path of least resistance. Since they already know you, they are more likely to interact with your page – crucial for organic growth on Facebook, and sales…

This is very handy, since it allows you, the retailer or business owner, to target your local area, not waste money showing people your offering in a town thousands of miles away. Google is obviously using this to only serve up the right ads of suppliers, in the very targeted region requested. 

This upgrade has several benefits for both customer and retailer, not the least being that the pay-per-click cost may be cheaper for the business, and you’ll get more relevant results and selling opportunities.  The ‘early bird’ businesses who get into this first will do the best…

Call us to help setup your Adwords account and promotion.