Save Time by Using RSS Feeds

Do you start your morning by visiting numerous websites to find the latest information and updates? Do you find it annoying trying to remember lots of different log in names, user names and passwords? RSS feeds can help you eliminate this time consuming process.

So what is RSS anyway?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. In its simplest form RSS can be described as a list of a web site’s new or updated content. It is a format for delivering regularly changing web content straight to your email inbox. Read the rest…

Contributed by Catriona Pollard .   Catriona Pollard is founder and director of CP Communications, which provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that achieve positive media coverage, increased brand awareness and improved sales results. Phone: (02) 9922 1063 Email: cp@cpcommunications.com.au Website: www.cpcommunications.com.au Blog: www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au Twitter: http://twitter.com/catrionapollard Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/catrionapollard

Catriona Pollard has written 8 article(s) for us.

Visit http://www.cpcommunications.com.au

For Things to Change, You Must Change

Mary is a typical small business owner, she keeps herself busy doing the ‘hands on’ work. In her case it is doing beauty treatments and she told me she keeps doing this because she really enjoys it. Her clients constantly told her how great she was, which made her feel appreciated. However it trapped her into staying ‘on the tools’. Read the rest…

Blogging- The Essential Marketing Tool

You are reading a business style blog right now -  but have you thought about creating one for your business? Blogs create marketing opportunities that allow businesses to interact with customers like never before. As the blog has evolved - and because it is an interactive medium where readers can comment on the articles, or ‘posts’  - businesses have embraced the blogs ability to build rapport with customers and humanise the business. Read the rest…

The Secret to Motivating Your Team in a Downturn

Quick & Easy Ways To Write Copy That Gets Results

I had the good fortune to have Apple Computers as one of my advertising clients. They asked us to come up with a series of headlines for a 24-page brochure to get rid of a bunch of old stock.  The headlines we presented were fantastic!  Amusing, outrageous, quirky. We were set to scoop the awards pool.  But when the research came back, the headline that out-pulled all others was - wait for it: Read the rest…

How Good Copywriting Can Help You Get On Page One Of Google:

Search Engine Marketing (SEM), or in simple terms, web marketing, can be very confusing for business owners so my intention with this article is to simplify it and give you an overview of what it’s all about. In essence, SEM is the art of driving traffic to your site, converting prospects into paying customers and measuring the results so you know what’s working and what’s not.

In order to do that for your business, you have to know where you currently stand in terms of your own web marketing.

Where do you rank on Google?

The best way to start is to find out how you rank on Google.  It’s worth taking a moment to find this out because if you can’t find yourself on Google, chances are your prospects can’t either.

If you don’t know how to go about finding yourself on Google, your best bet is to ask “Well, what words would the average person type into Google if they wanted to find my business?  (These words are called keywords.)

This is where it gets interesting because in order to do this, you need to crawl inside your prospect’s head and start thinking like they do.  This is easier said than done because people will search for your service using words that would never have occurred to you.

How do you know what your keywords are?

To work out what those keywords are you first need to put yourself in the shoes of your customer.  What words would they use?  What phrases would they use?

Let’s make some assumptions to demonstrate the principle. Let’s assume:

1)     you’re a lawyer specializing in workers compensation law

2)     that the person seeking your services lives in Melbourne and has never had to contact a lawyer before.

So here’s what that person might type in to Google to find you:

1. “Lawyer, Melbourne”
2. “Solicitor, Melbourne”
3. “Workers Compensation“
4. “Workers Comp Lawyer”
5. “Workers Compensation Lawyer, Melbourne”

Tip:  Keywords don’t just refer to ‘words’ but to ‘phrases’ as well eg “Lawyers in Melbourne” is a phrase that would be used, not just “Lawyers.”

Now, all those search terms (or keywords) will bring up different search results so it’s worth trying out a few different combinations to see if it makes any difference to where you rank.

Depending on your ranking, you’ll either be pleasantly surprised, mildly pleased or drastically worried.  Whatever the result, take comfort in the fact that at least you now know where you rank on Google.

Where do your competitors rank?

This exercise begs the question:  if you’re not on page one of Google, who is?  This is the perfect opportunity to work out where your competitors rank.

Take note of who the high rankers are and take a virtual stroll through their website and see what they’re up to.  Here’s a few things they are probably doing well:

They probably:

• Use the right keywords on their website
• Get lots of relevant sites to link to theirs
• Use the right keywords in those links
• Have lots of content on their site and add more regularly

Keep things simple to start with and just jot down the words and phrases that you think people would use to find you on Google. Then, weave those words into your copy.  There’s more you can do to get ranked higher but this is a great start if you’re just new to SEO and want to take constructive action to get a result.