SEO Workshop for Mums in Business
I am thrilled to have been invited by Motivating Mum to run a search engine optimisation (SEO) workshop in Geelong. The workshop will focus on a practical approach to SEO for your website, with tips and…
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Tips, Resources & News
How to improve your website performance with A/B testing
If your website is important to your business, you need to ensure that it delivers. Most people think they know what “looks good” and what “works” when they look at a web page. You’d be surprised how often your gut…
Google Analytics now shows your website keywords as “not provided” – here is a workaround!
Until recently, it was possible to see in Google Analytics exactly which keywords people typed into Google to find your website. However, Google’s recent changes have put a stop to that and most keywords in the…
How to add a video to your website
Videos can be a fantastic marketing tool, whether you create a tour of your premises, an overview of your services, introduction of staff or a useful tutorial. Adding a video to your website is easy! Just follow these simple steps. Create a Youtube account and upload your video to Youtube. Youtube is the biggest video hosting platform in the world and will make it easy to share your video on the internet, including your website. Once you have uploaded your video, go to view the video on Youtube. Below the video, click on the “Share” link, then on the “Embed” link below that. Choose an appropriate size for your video, either from the presets in the dropdown box or by typing in a custom size Copy the embed code Now go to your website admin panel, login and navigate to the page or article that you’d like to add the video to In the text editor, you’ll need to switch over to “code view” to be able to insert your embed code. In Joomla, you can do this by clicking on the “show/hide” link above the editor or on the symbol. In WordPress, click on the “text” tab above your editor. Now paste your embed code where you would like the video to appear. Save your page and check your website to make sure the video sits in the right position. How to autoplay a video: If you’d like your video to automatically start playing when someone visits your web page, you’ll need to add some additional code to your embed code. The video URL will generally end in ?rel=0. Youll need to add &autoplay=1 to the end of that URL, so that you will have something similar to this: www.youtube.com/embed/12345678?rel=0&autoplay=1
Responsive design vs separate mobile website
These days, it seems like everyone is surfing the web on their smart phones and tablets. However, as this is quite a recent phenomenon, many business websites are not equipped to offer a good user experience for smart phone users yet. In this article, we’ll review the options available to business owners wanting to ensure a good user experience for their mobile visitors.
Is a mobile optimised website worth it?
Mobile optimised websites are becoming more and more common these days, however they still cost more to design and develop than standard desktop websites. A responsive website that resizes automatically for mobiles and tablets can cost around 30% more due to the time required to develop, design and test the website on different devices. Existing website may even require a complete redesign, or alternatively the creation of a separate mobile website. For many small businesses, the question is: “Is it worth it?”
Top 5 benefits of having a blog on your website
It is becoming increasingly common to have a blog for your business, and with good reason: Blogs can have major benefits for search engine optimisation and social media engagement. Here are the top 5 benefits of having a blog on your business website:
What Google’s Penguin 2.0 update means for local businesses
At the end of May, Google rolled out a major update of their search algorithm. The update was named Penguin 2.0 and can have a strong impact on search engine rankings for local businesses. Here are the main points to be aware of:
Video: Google’s Matt Cutts on Penguin 2.0
Google’s Matt Cutts talk about the Penguin 2.0 update, Google’s most important algorithm update this year. It’s worth watching if you want to get an idea of how Google’s changes may impact your search engine rankings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xQmQeKU25zg
How to read the Audience Overview report in Google Analytics
If you have Google Analytics installed on your website (which you should!), the first thing you’ll see when you login is the Audience Overview report. If you’re mystified by all the numbers and graphs, here’s a primer on how to read and interpret them.
I’m now officially certified by Google AdWords!
I’ve been using Google AdWords for years, but as I am now managing more and more client campaigns I thought it was time to take the exams and get an official certification by Google.
5 website tactics to make Google love you
If you have a website, you’ll know how difficult it can be to attract enough traffic to it. Driving traffic to your website should include several tactics such as advertising and email marketing, but there is no doubt that search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the most important things you’ll need to address.
Book recommendation: Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing: Get found using Google, social media and blogs by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah Forget about traditional marketing techniques involving big wallets and pushy messages that interrupt people’s lives. Inbound Marketing promises to deliver customers to your doorstep (read: website) when they are actually interested in your product or service. Over the last couple of years, this book has become a classic that belongs on the bookshelf of every marketer and small business owner.
Video: the Happy Secret to Better Work
This is a great video of a talk by Shawn Achor at a TED conference. Shawn is a positive psychology researcher, and in his talk he challenges the idea that we should work harder to eventually achieve happiness – according to him, this is backwards. Happiness should come first, and greater productivity at work will follow.
Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns: the most important changes
Google has just released a major change to the way AdWords will work: Enhanced Campaigns. Yesterday I attended a seminar in Melbourne held by Google to explain these changes to agencies managing AdWords campaigns for their clients. Enhanced Campaigns is already available if you do a manual upgrade, and within the next 4-6 months all campaigns will be forced to upgrade.
How to get more bookings for your accommodation business (Part 3)
Part 3: Search Engine Marketing This is part 3 of a 4 part series on how to increase bookings for your B&B, hotel or other accommodation business. In part 1, we looked at online reviews as a way to get your customers to spread the word for you. Part 2 outlined considerations when listing your business on booking websites. In part 3 of this series we look at using search engine marketing as a business development tool.