To ensure your website works hard for your business, you need to make sure that it is both user-friendly and search-engine-friendly. Striking a balance between these two items is extremely important if you want a website that is both visible in the online market and successful in communicating with your customers.

It’s no good having a fantastically designed website that communicates your brand and engages with your customers when they reach your website if they can’t actually find it when they start searching in search engines. And similarly, it’s no use having a website that ranks at the top of Google if your users only get frustrated after the first 10 seconds they spend on the site, only to return to the search engine results and go to a competitor’s website that ranks below yours.

But there are a few ways that you can balance the requirements of both users and search engine spiders:

1. Content, content, content. Search engine friendly websites are all about the content. However, usability experts say that users won’t read your website extensively and excess content will only frustrate them as they won’t be able to find the important information they are looking for. There are a couple of ways to ensure your users can still find what they are looking for while also increasing the content on your website for the search engines. Firstly, make sure important content that is aimed at users is kept above the fold line. Users will read by scanning the page and they’ll often get sick of reading before they get to the bottom of the page. Search engine spiders, however, are not so fussy. They’ll read the text even if it’s at the bottom of the page. Therefore, place SEO content at the bottom of the page and even segment horizontally with a line to deter users from reading that far and becoming bogged down.
2. Use logical headings. These need to strike a balance between your SEO keywords and the need to also guide users as to what will be included in the page content. Users read a web page by first scanning the headings before deciding whether it is worth the time reading the content. Search engines also like headings so it’s important to make sure your headings are logical and well thought out.
3. Keep content fresh. Make sure your content is always up-to-date. Users will become frustrated if they find out of date information, particularly if your site advertises upcoming events or other date-related items. Search engines also like to see fresh content that is constantly updated.
4. Check for errors regularly. Not only are broken links frustrating for users but they also annoy the spiders. It goes without saying, but you should also make sure there are no spelling errors on your website.

Obviously there are far more ways to improve the usability or search-engine-friendliness of your site, but these are just a few starting points to help strike a balance between a user-friendly site and a search-engine-friendly site.

Popularity: 3%

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Search engines like Google use algorithms to define where a particular website sits in the search engine results pages (SERPs). These algorithms are constantly updated from a daily to hourly basis, depending on what can be improved; this helps ensure the most relevant websites are returned to the entered search query.
In order to help improve a website’s ranking, authority is required. Authority can be acquired through various factors, one of which is content. As crawling, finding and adding new content is the primary aim of all search engines; content clearly becomes a very important factor to every website owner.

Adding Content

To ensure maximum return on any content you add, there are a few simple steps to consider –

• Unique – Unique content is what search engines crave, once it’s added to your website, don’t duplicate it. Duplicated content can result in penalisation and potentially even banning your website from the search engines index.
• Relevant – Content that’s relevant to your site is essential, as it helps build what your site is about to both search engines and visitors.
• Plentiful – You can never have too much content, therefore when the opportunity arises, add more content. Furthermore, create pages with content revolving around a particular topic, helping boost your authority even more.
• Fresh – We love our fresh groceries and produce; well search engines love fresh content. Continually adding fresh, unique content will ensure constant updating of your site in the search engines indexes.
• Interesting – Keeping your content interesting will help improve your websites online presence, potentially opening the doors for natural link building, substantially increasing your authority.

Content is the foundation of any websites success, therefore combining all above factors can help start your website on the right track to building authority effectively.

Popularity: 18%

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How do you tell whether your website would benefit more from being displayed in the organic or cost-per-click listings on the search engine results page?

Every company has different targets, keyword rankings and goals that it is striving to achieve with their website, so undertaking in one or the other can be sufficient for your site’s traffic, enquiries and sales.

But if you want the best of both worlds, put simply, your site can benefit from both as there are numerous advantages of appearing in both paid and unpaid listings.

Around 55-65% of users will click on the organic search engine listings, and around 35-45% will click on the paid search engine results (depending on whose research you believe).

The unpaid, organic listings can increase a site’s keyword rankings by undertaking Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). The majority of users will choose to follow the organic listings, as these results are seen to be less biased and can be perceived as being more relevant to the keywords that the user is looking for.

The catch for engaging in SEO is that most companies do not guarantee results and it can take months to start seeing traction on keywords, especially in competitive industries. Online competitors could have an authoritative advantage in the search engines if their sites have been around for longer and hold the keyword positions that your site is trying to target.

This is where dabbling in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) as well as SEO, is handy.

SEM creates the paid, “sponsored” links that appear usually on the right-hand side of the search engine results page and are virtually instantaneous. This allows your site to emerge on the first few pages in Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines, while SEO is doing its ground work to get noticed.

The benefits of creating an SEO and SEM synergy include:

Market Penetration

Engaging in both SEO and SEM allows search engine users to be ‘captured’ at all stages of the buying process. Users that are in the problem recognition or information search stages of the buying process are more likely view organic listings. On the other hand, users who are closer to making a purchase decision or are evaluating alternative products and services are more likely to click on SEM advertisements.

A Stronger Web Presence

SEM paid listings provides visibility for competitive keywords that a site may find hard to rank initially through SEO.

Greater Measurability

Having a site’s SEO keyword ranking statistics and the SEM traffic, keyword and conversion statistics allows for a greater level of accountability and the ability to cross-reference results. These results can also be measured and reviewed over time and can help drive traffic and sales for your site by focusing efforts on top-performing keywords.

Build Credibility

Research shows that users associate the ‘Top Ten’ organic page results with companies that are the industry leaders. Couple this with some catchy Google AdWords or other cost-per-click advertisements and a site will appear to have the online industry covered.

Popularity: 28%

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When managing an AdWords account, foresight is imperative.

Understanding upcoming seasonal events and trends and how they relate to the product or service you are selling is a vital skill for any AdWords marketer.

Consider this; you own a lawn mowing business and are currently advertising online. At the moment you are only running generic ads, yet you are still getting a steady amount of enquiries through your website.

Although it is fantastic that you have optimised your campaigns to the point where they are generating a stable revenue stream for you, now is not the time to rest on your laurels.

Google AdWords campaigns require continual optimisation and maintenance in order to maximise any opportunities that may be missed with a ‘set and forget’ style of AdWords management.

For an example of how your mowing business might leverage itself off some major holidays and events during the year, you might consider running ads like:

You can also create new keyword lists, adjust your daily budgets, create new landing pages for your ads or utilise a variety of other common AdWords techniques in order to help you capture some of the increased traffic and online spending that occurs during these periods.

The trick however, is not just to simply capture the extra traffic, but to harness the ‘spirit’ of the event, holiday or season in your strategies.

Remember: Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

Popularity: 30%

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As the economy recovers from global recession, businesses will continue to explore alternative ways to market their business. Also, as more people get easy access to fast internet connections there is plenty of scope for online business to expand rapidly.

However, getting visibility through the search engines is critical to success and one of the most cost effective marketing approaches available.

As search engines becomes more complex with the introduction of social networking feeds (Twitter) into their results, it’s high time for businesses to optimise their websites. Hence the New Year’s resolution for a business should be to get to the top of Google.

The power of search engines can only be experienced once your site is optimised and ranking well in the search engines. As the competition becomes fiercer amongst search engines in the coming year, it is very important to make sure your business is visible on all the major search engines.

This year is all about entering new markets and reaching the unattainable heights that is only possible through digital marketing. The success rate of SEO Marketing is higher compared to almost any other form of online marketing. Each and every single day, several billion users log into various search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo to locate business services and products. SEO can help your website to gain higher Search Engine Rankings and thus help in improving online visibility of your website.

SEO marketing is surely one of the ground-breaking marketing techniques which will help your website to gain more exposure on various search engines. It will also help you to reach out to a large number of potential customers resulting in increased revenue and ROI.

This is a New Year’s resolution you need to keep!

Popularity: 30%

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Your website has the potential to be the most profitable employee in your business, but you need to make it work hard!

This statement may have some scratching their heads, but the similarities between a business’ website and their employees makes it more than achievable.

Let’s firstly look at initial costs. Most websites cost between $5,000-$30,000 to build, which, depending on your industry, is also around the amount it can cost to recruit and train new staff.

But once you’ve recruited a new staff member, the job’s not done. In order for that employee to become a valued team player you need to invest in training, resources and time, as well as pay them a yearly salary.

This goes for your website as well. Once it’s built, you need to invest in continually improving its effectiveness. This often includes both search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) on an ongoing basis as the website’s salary, and ongoing usability improvements as their training.

Like an employee, websites also work best when there’s an ongoing buy-in from managers, spending time actually trying to improve the work that they’re doing, rather than being left alone to twiddle their thumbs and cost the business money.

Popularity: 28%

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With the recent news that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has given the green light to the proposed Yahoo/Bing search network deal, the question now becomes are Microsoft and Yahoo finally in a position to take on Google?

The deal struck between Yahoo and Microsoft will see Microsoft’s Bing-powered organic search results displayed in Yahoo searches whilst Yahoo’s Search Marketing program will control paid results in Bing. In essence, what it will mean is that Yahoo and Bing will have the same search results.

In Australia, Microsoft’s AdCenter program is not available, as Yahoo and Microsoft already have a deal that allows paid search placements on Microsoft search networks (Bing, NineMSN, Live, etc) to be controlled using Yahoo’s Search Marketing system. This means that in Australia, the deal does not have as major ramifications to the search engine landscape as it does in other countries around the world.

In Australia, the only real change will be in Yahoo’s organic search results, which will now be powered by Bing.

To have an idea about the implications of the ACCC’s decision, it’s important to understand that in markets where there exists an oligopoly (only a small number of firms controlling a large portion of the market), the ACCC will often step in to oppose the big players merging or striking arrangements that could hamper competition.

However, in this case, the ACCC found that the deal would be unlikely to reduce competition because:

• Microsoft and Yahoo already have a deal in Australia with paid search ads. Currently, ads on Bing are already controlled through Yahoo’s Search Marketing program in Australia, meaning the new deal did not present as much of a change to the way Australians are presented with search results when compared with the rest of the world.
• Yahoo and Microsoft’s current market share was so insignificant when compared to Google’s, the deal is unlikely to result in any additional market power.
• The deal is unlikely to reduce innovation in the search engine industry.

The ACCC’s ruling, whilst a good result for Microsoft and Yahoo, is also a bit of a back-hander, because it essentially means the ACCC considers the multi-billion dollar companies of Microsoft and Yahoo small players in the industry, and not big enough to be able to obtain any market power.

But despite the deal, Google is unlikely to be worried. Microsoft has spent millions on advertising Bing worldwide, yet despite this, has failed to grab any significant market share from Google.

As for whether Yahoo and Microsoft are now in a position to take on Google, I doubt it. Google’s massive paid search “cash cow” is funding an innovation program others can only dream of. Wisely, both Yahoo and Bing have realised the only way they can stop Google is take their search engine market share, hence dampening their massive advertising revenues.

However, this is a classic case of easier said than done.

Popularity: 67%

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Flash websites are nice, they’re pretty and stimulating but still far from practical. In fact, in many cases, the prettier your site, the more complex message it sends to a potential or current client. Considering how far we’ve advanced in technology and with the Internet, you’d expect this primary focus would be clearer.

Unfortunately since we’re all wrapped up in these fancy improvements, we are focusing less on the potential/current client and more on our own wants and desires. Adobe Flash is one of these technological advancements which has utterly stunned everyone from the beginning, though it’s important to know the mechanics behind it and what effect it has on your pocket.

The first point I would like to make is that in my opinion you should never make your whole site entirely out of Flash, as this can be riddled with complications. In addition, I have provided other examples to why Flash isn’t ideal:

• Speed & Size – A full Flash site is simply too big in size. Majority of people do not have lighting fast fibre optic Internet, so they won’t be sticking around for long if they’re staring at a loading bar all day. Size has been reduced remarkably with further advancements, however catering for the majority is still essential.

• Dynamic Resolution Resizing – Catering for various resolutions isn’t possible with Flash, without spending countless hours and tens of thousands of extra dollars into creating multiple versions of one site. CSS (or Cascading Style Sheets) offers this option and is free and compatible with every browser!

• Mobile Web – Many unfortunately still don’t take mobile browsing into account, however this is critical in today, especially when mobile phones are replacing land lines (home phones) and some computers and laptops. Not to mention the revolutionary iPhone, enabling fast web browsing via 3G or Wi-Fi, many simply don’t see the need to carry around a 2kg laptop when they can carry a phone.

• Price – Flash takes longer and requires much more extensive knowledge, making a Flash designer worth their weight in gold. However with all these combined, comes one big hefty price tag. When you require a modification, you pay for it, and not lightly either.

• SEO – SEO is required for your website to achieve high ranking positions in the search engines and substantial traffic, which ultimately will be your potential/future clients. However, as Google can only read a very small part of Flash and other search engines aren’t unable to read it at all, you’re losing a great deal of potential clients.

This is not to say flash is bad, quite the contrary, as it engages users and creates a very dynamic feel, but it’s important to note with the combination of all these complications that creating a website in Flash is often only to impress or provide a “wow” factor to people, stimulating only their brains and not necessarily your pocket.

Popularity: 45%

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One of the biggest challenges facing any business undertaking SEO is understanding how long it takes. SEO should be considered like any other traditional marketing item – it can take time for meaningful results to filter through. The number one thing to remember is that SEO is a marathon not a sprint. And if your website is new, then you’ll have to be even more patient.

A new website won’t just pop up into the search engine results overnight without some SEO basics applied to the site first. Following that, search engines then have to find and index your site. And even once they’ve indexed it, it’s often another 3-6 months before any meaningful results occur.

Unfortunately, in most cases, results are not going to happen overnight. There are a number of external variables that are out of your control that can play a part on how quickly and successfully your website climbs up the ranks.

Firstly, the search engine algorithms are constantly changing as Google, Yahoo! and Bing endeavour to continually serve the most relevant search results to its users. Therefore, it’s highly beneficial to outsource your SEO to a SEO company who would continually monitor these changes in the algorithm.

Secondly, the competitiveness of the industry and search terms that you are targeting can also influence your ability to move up the rankings with ease. Generally broad search terms, such as “events” or “cars” will be much more competitive and more difficult to rank for than specific, targeted keywords that are relevant to your business and your website, for example “corporate events Brisbane” or “cars for sale Brisbane”. Usually, it will be much easier and quicker to rank for specific keywords that are less competitive and more relevant to your business. Additionally, if you choose your keywords strategically, you’ll also be more likely to get much more traction and draw high quality traffic to your website.

Finally, there’s no way to control what SEO tactics your competitors are using. Therefore it’s vital that you employ a long term SEO strategy to ensure that your website is constantly optimising against your competitors. If you stop applying SEO to your website but your competitors continue with their SEO, it won’t take long before you drop out of the ranks as your competitors overtake you.

In most cases, SEO is not going to happen overnight. The reason for this is because of the number of variables that cannot be controlled. However, by putting the right strategies in place, and by keeping an ongoing long term view of SEO, you’ll start to see meaningful, worthwhile results and add value to your business.

Popularity: 100%

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Google and Bing have both announced a partnership with social networking giant Twitter. Bing was the first to announce their partnership with Twitter and has already rolled out a Beta version of BingTweets.

This is great news for users as it means they will be shown real time content based on popular user tweets. As the competition in Search Engine Space becomes more intense, Google and Bing are trying everything to attract users. The big news, however, is this officially makes Twitter the most influential social networking site on the web.

Bing Tweets pulls in trends from Twitter and filters into categories such as “Popular Now”, “People”, “Places” and “Products”, supposedly providing easier navigation to changing trends. When you do a search, you’ll get tweets at the top of the page and shared links at the bottom. The result displayed removes duplicate tweets, and filters out any adult content for better usability. When you do a search, by default new tweets will flow automatically into the tweets section of results.

Google, on the other hand, displays the five most recent tweets for the query the user has searched, giving both real-time Twitter search results and Google results on the same page. So users can not only view the pages indexed by Google but also see relevant Twitter conversations happening for that particular search query.

This will result in companies marketing aggressively in the social media space. It also creates challenges for businesses to ensure that users are updated with latest offerings and ensure customers are satisfied with the products and services they provide, in order to maintain their brand image.

The inclusion of Twitter into the search results will change the internet marketing space, but only time will tell how users respond to those changes.

Popularity: 38%

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