Australian Internet Marketing Hits $2 Billion

Posted by Rhys Furner on Aug 31, 2010 in Business Investment | 0 comments

As the old hats of TV and newspapers migrate to online advertising, the Australian internet marketing industry has cracked the $2 billion barrier for the 09/10 financial year. The savvy entrepreneurs of the modern business world recognise that if you want to be competitive, it is essential to engage in internet marketing.

So, if internet marketing still doesn’t grate your cheese, or you’re unsure as to its relevance, let me give you a few points as to why you must integrate it into your businesses marketing mix:

Firstly, placing an ad in the Yellow Pages might seem to be your first point of call when it comes to getting your business out there. However, it can be costly and hard to measure its success. People are time poor and therefore rarely take the time to flick through the endless amount of pages when they can Google it and find what they’re after almost instantly.

Secondly, online marketing can be tailored and targeted to very specific target markets, meaning your audience WILL get the message  and sooner. It is an affordable alternative to pricey print and broadcast marketing. Let’s face it; your audience is already online and if your business isn’t there, you’re not getting their business!

Thirdly, creative ads can be created in order to attract your markets based on their specific interest.  Furthermore, businesses have the opportunity to create specific landing pages or micro-sites dedicated to the users specific need. This strategy helps to increase your overall online conversion rate and can have a huge impact on sales.

The first place to start for most businesses is within the search engines. Many vendors (such as Reload Media) offer SEO & SEM programs that can guarantee your business to  appear on the first page for a number of you most profitable keywords. This means that when people search for keywords or phrases related to your business, you will appear on the first page of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

It is no wonder that the phenomenon of internet marketing continues to grow. If your business is not implementing internet marketing into your marketing mix, pop it onto your “things to look into list” a.s.a.p!

Popularity: 2%

What is Google AdWords?

Posted by Amy Scott on Aug 17, 2010 in Search Engine Marketing | 0 comments

Google AdWords is a form of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which involves placing advertisements on the Google Search and Display Networks.

Ads placed on the Google Search Network appear above and to the right of the natural search results, and are more often known as ‘Sponsored Links’ (see image below). Whereas, ads placed on the Google Display Network appear on thousands on websites in partnership with Google and capture potential customers whilst they are searching the World Wide Web. It’s almost like a mini billboard that appears every time a user makes a search – only with 4 simple lines and a maximum of 130 characters (including spaces!).

The real beauty of AdWords is that it is a targeted and specific approach to online marketing. AdWords allows users to quickly and effectively increase their websites traffic, revenue and profits by targeting search terms most relevent to their business and creating magnetic ads that solve their target markets search problems. As AdWords is a Pay-Per-Click system, advertisers only pay when someone actually clicks on their ad. This means that a business can be noticed all over the internet, but they will never pay more than the maximum bid that they have set.

Furthermore,  AdWords one of the most measurable forms of marketing available through the inclusion of qualified data checking and traffic analysis. Through AdWords, users can measure how many people click on their ad, compare this to how many people see the ad, and measure the profitability, revenue generated, return on investment and leads generated for their business as a directed result of their AdWords campaigns. This allows users to explicitly see if and how their AdWords campaigns are meeting their business advertising objectives.

You will not find a more effective and measurable marketing platform that can deliver almost instant results through the generation of qualified and quality traffic to your website  than Google AdWords.

On top of amazing measurability, AdWords can target potential customers in a specific geographical areas relevant to a businesses reach. Users can even tailor campaigns to run over a certain time frame so that leads are only generated during available hours!

With all the great things one can achieve with Google AdWords, this does pose one question…

Should businesses manage their own AdWords account, or should they outsource it to a professional AdWords company?

Sure by managing your own Google AdWords account you can save on management fees, but it takes a lot of your time and energy away from what your businesses primary focus. AdWords has the potential to become very costly if not correctly optimised. On the other hand, outsourcing adwords can also be an expensive endeavour.

However, although utilising the skills of a professional AdWords company may cost you extra in management fees,  AdWords Qualified Professionals are trained to ensure that your campaigns  perform at their absolute maximum potential. This means a business will  likely make back the increased costs through decreased overall campaign costs and an influx of relevant customers to their business!

If this post has made you feel the need to join the digital revolution, you can speak to one of our consultants about how we can tailor make a Google AdWords campaign to suit your business needs!

Popularity: 3%

An IMC approach to SEM, SEO and SMM

Posted by Paul Goldston on Aug 5, 2010 in SEM Tips, SEO Tips, Social Media | 0 comments

Apologies for the acronym soup I’ve served up today. Before we indulge in the main course, here’s the menu in brief:

IMC

IMC stands for Integrated Marketing Communication. According to Wikipedia, IMC is a “holistic approach to marketing” that “aims to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media” (IMC, Wikipedia, 2010).

SEM

SEM is short for Search Engine Marketing. In many cases, search marketing includes a wide variety of disciplines but for the sake of this article, when we refer to SEM we will be referring to pay-per-click search advertising. This includes sponsored advertising on the Google, Yahoo and Bing search and display networks.

SEO

If you are an avid reader of this blog, you will likely already have some idea of what SEO is. SEO is short for Search Engine Optimisation (or, for the Americans reading this, Search Engine Optimization!). This involves the process of optimising your website in a bid to improve your search engine rankings on the keywords that are most valuable to you. SEO is achieved through a multitude of visible website changes (on-page SEO) and non-website (off-page SEO) strategies.

SMM

A relatively new acronym in the online marketing field, SMM simply stands for Social Media Marketing. This involves harnessing the communication and viral power of social media platforms in order to achieve a particular marketing objective.

The Main Course

Ok. Now that we know the dishes, it’s now time for the special – a combination of the four!

Consistency. This the main ingredient in a quality IMC campaign. IMC involves creating a consistent tone, character, appearance, personality and message across your entire marketing mix. IMC has been widely accepted as the most effective way to cut through media clutter and deliver a single minded brand proposition to your target market.

You have probably already experienced a quality Integrated Marketing Campaign without realising it. Consider Optus. The way Optus have developed their IMC campaign is through the use of a consistent brand theme throughout all of their visible customer touch points. This theme of course, revolves around the brand colours yellow and turquoise and the use of wild animals in all of their marketing discourse (open a new browser/tab and check out their website now – you’ll see what I mean).

So how can SEM, SEO and SMM be integrated into an IMC campaign? Here are a few tips:

SEM

• Ensure that you develop your PPC advertising campaigns to include keywords that are utlised in your offline marketing efforts (for example brand slogans, tvc messages, etc)
• If your brand has a recognisable and distinctive brand personality, try to incorporate this personality into the writing of your ads.
• If you have a special offer or promotion running offline, replicate and reinforce this offer though your ad copy in the search engines.
• Let users know they have landed in the right place by integrating your landing page/website design with offline marketing themes.

SEO

• Like with SEM, make sure you have optimised your website for keywords and phrases that a potential customer might type in after ingesting your offline marketing material.
• Increase your search engine real estate by dominating the most valuable keyword groups relating to your industry. This will increase your branding and will allow you to reinforce your integrated marketing message every time a user searches for a relevant term in your industry.
• Make sure that, in making on-page SEO changes to your website, that you are able to create a balance between SEO and readability so as to maintain a clear and consistent marketing message.

SMM

• If you have an actual brand character, consider integrating this character across all of your social media channels. Brand characters are very powerful marketing tools and work well to create instant brand recognition and connection.
• Once again, if you have offline promotions running, you can boost the profile of this promotion through a creative social media marketing strategy.
• If you have decided on the brand tone and personality you would like to convey to your audience (are you young with attitude or conservative and corporate?), make sure to convey this personality in your social media interactions. A great example of a brand with a consistent brand personality and theme is Virgin (cheeky, red and white, casual, innovative, slightly (and ironically) anti-corporate)).

Mmm delicious…

I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick taste test on some ways you can incorporate SEO, SEM and SMM into your integrated marketing campaigns.

Please feel free to add a comment below if you:

• Did or didn’t agree on any of the points,
• Know of another good IMC example?
• Or simply have a question about this post!

Popularity: 9%

Oh, How Google Has Changed…

Posted by Vinnie Palihakkara on Jul 27, 2010 in Google, Search Engine Optimisation | 0 comments

There have been many visible and invisible changes to the Google search engine this year (2010). You may have already noticed some of the aesthetic changes in terms of the look and feel of the world’s most beloved search portal. However, there have also been some very important algorithmic changes in the back end as well. In this article we will look at how some of these changes may affect your Googling!

Interface

The new look and feel of Google bodes a more modern and powerful overall search engine. Apart from the obvious and well publicised logo update, Google have implemented a variety of new search tools and filters on the left which cater to the needs of the evolved, modern day search engine user.  This has been dubbed “Universal Search”.

Users can now more easily filter and customise their searches based on the specific media or service they are looking for. Sure this has been available in a different form in the past but Google is now cementing these advanced search filters as one of the cornerstones of their search interface. The universal search toolbar now also provides a variety of extra search tools such as timeline and context specific searches to name a few.

But universal search has yet another trick up its sleeve. This is the ability of users to sort search results based on how often a website has been updated. This means users can now access the latest fresh content without the hassle of having to trawl through a list of outdated  results. Basically, universal search has made it even easier for users to switch between filters and views of the same search query in order to retrieve search results that are more applicable to their needs.

Finally, another notable new addition to the Google tool belt is Google Squared. This fascinating tool allows users to search for a product, category, service or any other entity and compare the results in a detailed matrix of information (in real time!). It’s just another helpful innovation from the good people at Google. Try it out for yourself here: http://www.google.com/squared.

Algorithm

As most search engine optimisation specialists would be aware, Google’s new search algorithm ‘Caffeine’ has changed the way in which Google looks at your website content. Google is now able to crawl a huge range of internet content (including video, music, news and social media) – faster and more reliably than it ever has before. This has enabled Google to understand the content and deliver a rich experience to the users in an array of new types of relevant and up to date search results.

With Google’s intelligence ever increasing, it has now become more important than ever to use reliable, white hat SEO techniques in order to achieve great search engine rankings as Google is  becoming more and more adept at differentiating between real content and spam/scam SEO work. For more information on how Google Caffeine may affect your business, read Andrew Knight’s article – What is Google Caffeine?

Popularity: 12%

Gen Y’s Place in the World of Digital Marketing

Posted by Llew Jury on Jul 22, 2010 in Featured | 0 comments

Self-absorbed, coddled, selfish, over-confident, arrogant, and accused of suffering from a deep epidemic of narcissism, Gen Y’s are constantly battered and bruised from those of earlier generations.

However, in the world of digital marketing it is Gen Y’s that are the cornerstone of our ever-expanding business; offering professional and cutting edge advice while showing our clients real results.

Here’s why:

• For starters, Gen Y’s are techy. Sure many Gen X’s and Baby Boomers are relatively active in the digital space, but Gen Y’s have shown older generations massive time-saving tech shortcuts that increase their productivity.
• Gen Y’s speak digital as their first language. They sleep with their iPhone under the pillow, are searching the net whilst watching TV, and are usually involved in 5-10 asynchronous conversations at any given time of the day.  This convergence of media, technology and communication  has unwittingly bred a generation of very capable multi-taskers and digital natives. They can take in huge amounts of information and filter out what is most useful to THEM. It’s no wonder that they are the most digitally targeted marketing segment. Which leads to my next point…
• They’re sponges. Some of us might see facebook, or just surfing the net as a mere pass time. However, these guys are communicating and absorbing a wide range of information from various sources.  If your business is looking to delve into the murky waters of Social Media, do you know what social media channels and strategies are right for your business? We rely on the Gen Y’s in our office to provide extensive advice on how your company can capitalise on  the social media boom through social media marketing and promotion.
• They’re natural Googlers. Gen Y’s have been using the internet for as long as they can remember. They rely on it for information and use it to source the most up-to-date products. They will rarely go beyond the first page of Google searches; therefore SEO & SEM is imperative when attempting to target them. And due to Gen Y emerging as the largest demographic in Australia (with 4.67million of them floating around), Reload Media understands your business is likely interested in a slice of the Gen Y pie! We have Gen Y SEO & SEM specialists who know how to effectively target Gen Y’s and take your online presence to the next level.
• They buzz! Gen Y’s are switched on and full of energy. They provide a company with that much needed positive momentum that uplifts everyone in the room. Is your business currently running on empty? Maybe you need a Gen Y to come in and add some spark.
• Opportunity drives them. Some of the biggest complaints people have about Gen Y’s are that:

1. They don’t have the patience to stay at one job for long enough,
2. They will inevitably leave and work overseas, and
3. That they expect to reach the top immediately.

This simply isn’t true. However, we have found that, by simply offering Gen Y’s a Gen Y working environment and presenting them with actual responsibility and trust to grow your business, they will relish the opportunity and exceed your expectations.

• They’re not into 9-5. They’re more 24/7. Shoot a Gen Y an email at 11pm and I would bet my bottom dollar that you’ll get a quick reply. They are not phased about putting in extra time to get the job done. Our Gen Y staff members put endless hours in to ensure our clients get industry leading service.
• Finally, Gen Y’s are adaptable. They thrive on change and learning a plethora of new information. Just ask a Gen Y to learn something new and report the findings to you and they’ll enthusiastically jump on it.

So if you’re still unsure about Gen Y’s, then you should employ one and witness the momentum they can add to your business given the right mix of responsibility and opportunity. In digital marketing, we depend on their natural digital expertise in order to keep up to date with the latest trends and maximise our clients results. This is what makes us the leader in search optimisation and internet marketing that we are today.

As a business owner who employs Gen Y’s, I know firsthand how efficient they can be given the right motivation and working atmosphere.

As a matter of fact, a Gen Y is writing this article for me right now… Now that’s efficiency!

Popularity: 10%