I was just talking with one of my clients the other day. They currently spend $40,000 a year on Yellow Pages but are no longer getting the results that they were getting in the past. Now they are looking for other online strategies whereby they can transfer some of that spend over into Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

But in this world, which is still very much like the wild west – where all sorts of promises are being made by all sorts of companies it is comforting that there are some dos and don’ts that we need to consider before we part with our money in the pursuit of the number 1 position.

Dos

• Do practice safe search engine optimization. Avoid cheap offshore SEO providers – statistically they practice spamming, content masking and doorway pages.
• Do be strategic. Work out which key words you want to rank for and make sure there is content on the website with these keywords.
• Do get into blogging. A regularly updated blog enables a conversation between the reader and Google to take place.
• Do take advantage of available tools. Use Google Analytics(a free tool) to track success of SEO – it enables you to analyze key word rankings, time spent on site and bounce rates.

Don’ts

• Don’t get into bed with an SEO business unless you know it well.
• Don’t rush it. Quality SEO services take time. If a provider is promising super fast results, chances are they can’t be trusted.
• Don’t flood copy with key words. Include key words but don’t overdo it – flooding web copy attracts penalties.
• Don’t inflate inbound links. Avoid trying to artificially inflate links to your site too quickly.
• Don’t fall for false claims. No one can guarantee the position of a keyword. Never use a company that guarantees you No. 1 on Google.

Source: Reload Media/Llew Jury

The Dos & Don’ts Of Search Engine Optimization is a post from: devalog

‘Facebook has unveiled a new messaging platform which takes aim at one of the internet’s first applications, email.

Although blogs had been speculating that Facebook would announce an email service to rival Google’s Gmail and others, Facebook said email was just one component of its plans.

Declaring email past its prime in the age of texts and instant messages, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company doesn’t believe email is going to be a modern messaging system. The first internet email system arrived in the early 1970s.

“If we do a good job, some people will say this is the way that the future will work,” Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg dismissed notions that Project Titan, as its service is called, is the “Gmail killer” it’s been dubbed as in the media.

But he also said that just as high school students are forgoing email in favor of shorter, more immediate chats, more people down the line will send IMs and chats because it’s simpler, “more fun” and more valuable to use.

Though email is still a primary form of communication for older adults, recent studies suggest this is not the case for young people.

Text messaging has surpassed face-to-face contact, email, phone calls and instant messaging as the primary form of communication for US teens, according to a 2009 survey from the Pew Research Center’s American Life Project.

Email use was the lowest – only 11 per cent of teens said they use it every day to interact with friends, compared with 54 per cent who said they text daily and 30 per cent who said they use land-line phones.

The popular social network unveiled its plans in San Francisco, a day before Zuckerberg speaks at the web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

Underscoring the enormity of the project, Facebook’s director of engineering, Andrew Boz Bosworth, said 15 Facebook engineers worked on the project for 15 months.’

Source: The Courier Mail

Are Emails Finished? is a post from: devalog

High quality fonts can add the extra touch to a design or it could be the feature of a creative typography piece.

This post lists some of the best free fonts for both graphic designers and web designers.

Please be sure to read the usage agreement for details about commercial vs. noncommercial works, as each font’s license differs based on the artist’s agreement for using the font. It’s always better to be safe than sorry when using free resources in your commercial works.

Browse, download and enjoy!

15 Awesome Free Fonts For Designers is a post from: devalog

I recently spent four days on an island with no internet and mobile phone access. It was absolute bliss…..but as you will read in this article….for some it may have been hell.

Read why…

‘THE average Australian spent 17.6 hours a week online in 2009, according to Nielsen’s Australian Internet & Technology Report 2010.

And if you’ve got broadband, or are aged between 16 and 29, you’re likely to fritter away even more time, with the biggest internet users clocking up as many as 22 hours a week.

If you think we’ve cut back elsewhere to compensate, you’re wrong. According to the same report, we spend 13.4 hours a week watching TV, and more than eight hours watching DVDs. In part, it’s because we’re multitasking, with 49 per cent of us watching TV while we surf the net.

It’s also never been easier to go online – 43 per cent of people with internet access also own a smart phone, meaning they spend another two or more hours a week browsing, even when their computer is nowhere in sight.

Our favourite websites? Google takes the cake, but social networking site Facebook is giving it a serious nudge.

In fact, for the first time ever, the internet and social networking sites have overtaken mobile phones as the preferred way for Australians who have online access to communicate with family and friends.

Which means we’re spending less time talking, and more time “chatting” with our fingers. Or updating our “profiles”.

Or taking a look at other people’s websites.

TECH ATTACHED

Dr Rob Cover, a media expert from the University of Adelaide, thinks there are a few reasons why the country’s internet usage figures keep creeping up.

“Social networking sites are highly compelling because they’re very ‘social’ in nature, which is different from TV – networking is highly interactive. And the level of compulsion to social network is higher than other activities because of the nature of an online computer, which also acts as a tool for work and study. It’s easy to have a browser with Facebook open while you’re working.”

That is why the number of times Australian employers blocked access to social networking sites jumped from 2000 per day in 2008 to 6000 in 2009.

Dr Darryl Cross, an Adelaide-based psychologist who regularly sees clients with “technology attachment” issues, says the appeal is also the fact that the average person can nab a slice of the internet for themselves.

“That wasn’t possible five years ago,” he says.

“Now people can put pictures and thoughts up, and are buzzed when other people are interested in what they’re doing and saying – it feeds the ego. And being able to snoop around in other people’s ‘lives’ not only feeds into our natural urge to be nosey, but it gives us a sense of importance.”

COUNTING THE COST

So are we fast becoming a nation of online addicts? Is it time to follow the UK’s lead, where earlier this year a London hospital opened the first technology addiction centre?

Dr Cover is wary of using the word “addiction”, at least in relation to social networking. “I’m currently involved in a project looking at ‘digital addiction’ and the findings suggest social networking isn’t addictive in the way we think of drug addiction. But I agree that it’s a powerful procrastination tool.”

Earlier this year, youth and self-development group Oxygen Factory released the results of a survey which found that four out of five Australian high school students think Facebook distracts them from their homework.

And while there’s no question technology has, in so many ways, changed our lives for the better, some experts say all this flitting between texting, emailing and browsing undermines our ability to focus.

What’s also of concern is that Dr Cover says he’s noticed a definite drop in confidence among 18- to 23-year-olds when they’re speaking in “real-life” situations.

“But on the other hand, there’s a very significant increase in confidence and ability to contribute to an online forum. “I think there’s a perception of the computer screen as a barrier or protection, whereas face-to-face communication doesn’t offer this.”

Dr Cross adds that the “instant gratification” nature of the technology adds fuel to the fire. “There’s no buffer, no time to cool off. It’s all too easy to send someone a text in the heat of the moment. That can get people into trouble.”

ARE YOU DEPENDENT?

Has your relationship with technology become unhealthy?

Find out by seeing how many of the following questions you answer “yes” to.

1. Is it starting to interfere or disrupt other activities?

2. Do you regularly check your messages before doing
anything else?

3. Do friends and family criticize you for the amount of time you spend online?

4. Does the thought of not being able to access a social networking site for a period of days or weeks make you anxious?

5. Do you prefer on-screen activities and communicating with people online, rather than leaving the house? ‘

Source: The Sunday Mail

Are You Online Addicted? is a post from: devalog

The digital age does not just mean people are becoming less reliant on print products such as the Yellow Pages to search for information.

In these challenging times for directory companies around the world, it has also allowed new entrants to flood the market…two  of which are Wedding House Directory and  Fitness House Directory.

But at two of the biggest global directories conferences recently — the European Association of Directory Publishers’ annual congress in Venice and the Kelsey Group’s Directional Media Strategies in Dallas — Sensis executives found themselves in an unusual position.

Delegates at DMS argued whether “printed Yellow Pages will be extinct in as many as five European markets” in five years, but Sensis, owned by Telstra, has bucked the trend of many print businesses by continuing to make good money from dead trees…

…more than half of Sensis’s revenue comes from the Yellow Pages, and more than two-thirds of Yellow Pages’ revenue comes from print.

It would be reasonable to assume the migration to digital will make this business model unsustainable but, unlike the newspaper and magazine businesses, Sensis has not seen reason to reinvent the wheel just yet.

“Five years ago and six years ago there was an assumption that we had seen the last of print and we are getting into a new world,” Sensis chief executive Bruce Akhurst said. “That may happen over the long-term but we are seeing the print books hold up well.”

Mr Akhurst said usage patterns for the Yellow and White Pages could come as a surprise…

“…Young people use books but they use them at home. People use online in a work environment. But…at home people get the book out. They are using the product in combination.”

Not that Sensis is ignoring changes in consumer behavior. It has 3 million users a month on smart-phones, while demand for the print products remains flat…

If you want to use a book then go for it….

“Explaining to a plumber search engine optimization or search engine marketing and social media and viral media – to make sense of all this is difficult. It is a complex world. We want to take complexity out of it…”

Sensis must ensure that small businesses get good service and results from ads. They must also fend off niche competitors.

“We’ve been quite focused on being able to prove our return on investment that we deliver,” Mr Akhurst said. “If you don’t, you are into this world of saying, a thousand cars drive past this billboard on the side of the road. So what? Did anybody read it? Did anybody call the company? We are out there putting metered ads in books and metered ads to actually measure real response rates to real ads and showing the data to our customers.”

Source: The Australian

The Changing World Of Online & Offline Directories is a post from: devalog

There are reports suggesting that Apple’s App Store now contains over 300,000 applications, the milestone was supposedly reached yesterday and includes both free and paid apps. With so many great applications available to download to your iPad or iPhone, these devices can do pretty much any task you can think of.

Steve Jobs made a surprise announcement recently, boasting that between the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, Apple activates 275,000 devices per day!

With the combination of the large number of devices and apps, there are bound to be some very creative uses for the iPad and iPhone. The following are just some examples of what you can do with these devices:

1. Launch an iPhone Into Space

Luke Geissbuhler and his son decided to launch an iPhone 4 into space using a weather balloon. The mission was a total success and the video footage is absolutely beautiful.

They launched the balloon from Newburgh, New York and it quickly climbed to 19 miles above the surface of the earth in just one hour. The balloon burst and the iPhone fell back to the ground on a parachute.

The iPhone was able to be tracked using the phone’s GPS and the MobileMe app and they found it in a tree just 30 miles north of the launch location.

2. iPhone Rock Band Perform Live on New York Subway

Recently, the members of New York City rock band ‘Atomic Tom’ allegedly had their instruments stolen. But hey loved the music so much they couldn’t stop rocking out. They took four iPhones onto the subway and delivered an inspiring performance of their song “Take Me Out.”

3. Remotely Control a Car With an iPad

Just recently, Google announced it’s plans for a self-driving car. However, as it turns out, the Germans have already got something even more amazing in the works. How do you get any cooler than a self-driving car? Try an autonomous car controlled by an iPad.

Developed by the AutoNOMOS Labs project at Germany’s Freire University, this project combines a modified Volkswagen Passat, equipped with sensors, GPS, radar and scanners, with an iPad app that dictates coordinates and other user information to the car.

Check out this video to see the first remote-controlled German taxi ride, all controlled using an iPad.

4. Accept Credit Card Payments on iPhone & iPad

In recent months, a few new mobile payment solutions have launched to allow for accepting credit card payments via mobile devices — a small business owner’s best friend.

Verifone’s PAYware Mobile allows you to accept credit card payments on the iPhone. All you need is the thick sleeve-like case for your iPhone and accompanying iPhone application in order to begin accepting payments via credit card entry or swipe. It supports end-to-end card data encryption and comes with a stylus for signatures.

5. Barcode Scanning iPhone App

Consumer Reports has created new iPhone app called “Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper”. It’s basically an application that lets users scan product barcodes and view the products user ratings, recommendations and reviews. The app also offers product and price comparisons.

The whole point of the barcode scanning apps are to provide access to unbiased product information, which can help you make a good decision next time you are tempted to buy a product without first researching the different options.

Your Say

What creative ways have you used your iPhone or iPad?

Do you like the idea of the Remote Controlled Car?

5 Creative Uses for the iPhone & iPad is a post from: devalog

But most small and medium-sized firms prefer to ignore the comments rather than deal with the problem head-on, as Mocks founder Lara Solomon has.

Last year Solomon decided to swap PR for social media as the main marketing method for her business, which sells sock-like mobile phone covers in Australia, Britain and the US.

She focused on a Facebook page but didn’t anticipate the full consequences of engaging with her customers on social media sites.

The Mocks brand attracted about 12,000 Facebook fans (it now has more than 15,000) within three months, with the result that sales doubled in the final quarter of last year compared with 2008. What Solomon didn’t expect was the magnitude of the task of dealing with online comments from mainly 12 to 20-year-old girls.

Many of the comments related to postal problems, particularly in the US, with fans saying they were angry and leaving negative comments.

Others were just upset they hadn’t won competitions.

Solomon’s YouTube channel, where she gives simple social media advice, received personal insults. On YouTube one person called her a “foolish woman” because her advice was basic. She responded with a polite “you are entitled to your view”.

“I did respond to them all and I didn’t delete any,” she says. “And I responded in a polite way.”

At Mocks the five-strong team tackles criticism head-on and puts extra effort into ensuring delivery or any other problems or criticisms are solved, turning disgruntled customers into happy fans.

“I’m a big believer in taking those negative comments and turning them into a positive,” Solomon says.

With negative and offensive comments she often will take a deep breath first rather than tackle the issue in the heat of the moment.

“Sometimes I will come back half an hour later when I have thought of a polite way to respond,” she says.

When Theo Thomas was running the listings site Dlook.com.au, which he sold last year, he encouraged people to leave comments and for listed businesses to respond.

What he found was that 78 per cent of comments were negative against 22 per cent positive, and that most businesses preferred not to deal with negative comments.

“The biggest problem was that more than half the businesses that had negative comments insisted that their listings be removed from the site,” he says. “People get very intimidated — small business particularly — by negative feedback.”

“Nobody can say every single customer they service is happy. What I was trying to do was encourage businesses to respond to negative comments and offer some kind of recompense. I found many small businesses and many large ones just have blinkers on.”

“But with the exponential growth of social media you have to respond.”

Solomon admits that things do go wrong in business all the time.

What counts is dealing with each problem in a positive way and turning negative customers into fans, just as a company would when dealing with people on the telephone.

While Solomon signs off on all content on her social media and websites, her employees are trained to handle comments, most of which are responding to questions, positive feedback and minor delivery problems.

“It’s all about trust and making sure staff are trained well to deal with comments,” she says.

Simon Foster, who runs the Australian version of Shoeboxed, a site that stores online receipts and paperwork, actively sought comments on local websites when the venture launched earlier this year.

Foster found that a lot of traffic was directed to Shoeboxed.com.au from the Ozbargain website, where some people were disgruntled with a special offer. He responded politely and factually, and many other people posted comments defending the company.

“If you do it well it will amplified positively,” Foster says.

“If you are short with a customer and hide behind anonymity people will see through it. Treat customers exactly the same way you’d treat customers on the phone.”

DEALING WITH ONLINE REVIEWS

• Always identify yourself as coming from your company. Many businesses make the mistake of leaving anonymous positive comments on their own behalf, which customers can see through.
• Don’t be nasty. Treat negative comments with respect and answer politely. If issues are especially tricky ask the customer to email you and take the discussion offline.
• Don’t delete comments. Deleting negative comments is a sure-fire way to inflame disgruntled customers. But it is OK to delete offensive language. Email the user to say you are deleting offensive language or the whole comment if nothing can be salvaged.
• Be real. Corporate and PR speak doesn’t go down well in social media. Be helpful and deal with the problem as you would deal with a customer on the phone.
• Deal with comments as a company rather than as an individual.
• Ensure comments are dealt with immediately. Social media is immediate and commenters get aggravated if they have to wait days for a response.
• Deal with the good comments and not just the bad. Social media is about having a conversation, not one-way feedback.

Source: The Australian

Tackling Social Media Head-On As A Business is a post from: devalog

Google has just announced Google Instant! They say it’s going to transform search forever—making it faster, better, stronger. But what is it, exactly?

In a word, it’s ‘predictive’. When using Google instant, you’ll start seeing search results as soon as you start typing. You’ll also be shown a range of possible queries in grey to refine your options, all before you even hit the “Search” button.

Google VP Marissa Mayer stated that this latest initiative will save 350 million hours of wasted search time with Google Instant.

In describing the product Marissa stated:

Our search-as-you-type demos were thought-provoking – fun, fast and interactive – but fundamentally flawed. Why? Because you don’t really want search-as-you-type (no one wants search results for [bike h] in the process of searching for [bike helmets]). You really want search-before-you-type – that is, you want results for the most likely search given what you have already typed.

Summary

How will this impact everyone? A lot of people are discussing how this will affect SEO results, as long-tailed key phrases might not have as much weight. Although Google Instant will definitely affect SEO, the most impact might actually be readers expectations for your website’s search to work the same as Google (i.e. search as they type).

Your Say

What’s your opinion? Has ‘Google Instant’ made your online searching experience better or worse?

An interesting comment from an anonymous reader:

It’s kind of like that person that tries to answer you as soon as possible when you haven’t finished your question or statement, and then he has to backtrack because he misinterpreted your question because you didn’t finish saying what you meant to say.

Google Instant – A Quick Overview is a post from: devalog

TFR – What are some of the key online customer behavior traits that you have noticed – which might not be so apparent to business people in general?

RM – The most important consumer behavior online is research online before purchase. ‘Research’ used to mean walking around three different stores on a Saturday morning, asking questions. Not any more – Australians love to research their gifts and products online before they go to the store. The visit to a store or an outlet is to confirm their information, make final choices, and finalize the deal. Any retailer who is not part of the online research journey for shoppers is lucky to have shoppers come into the store.

Google’s phone surveys – over 4,000 Australian purchasers – told us that 50% of shoppers research their purchase online before going into a store. Whether it is clothing, toys, hardware or cosmetics, millions of Australians go online to out more before parting with their hard earned cash.

At Google, we get to see what Australians are searching for. Across our retail categories we’re seeing an increased willingness to search online for information: query volumes on Google are 30-40% higher than the equivalent period last year. We know from previous years that Christmas searching will start soon, particularly with people looking to buy from retailers overseas – now is the time for Australian small business owners to get their Christmas plans in place.

With all the increased activity, we can see that Australians are getting increasingly demanding. Industry studies suggest that your home page has less than 8 seconds to engage a new web site visitor. People are no longer happy to wait for a ‘loading’ home page, or a page that they can’t see on their mobile phone. They are looking for product information, reviews, store locations and opening hours and they want that information now.

Mobile is becoming an increasingly important part of Australians everyday behavior. Neilson tells us 73% of Australians search on their smart-phones – the number 1 activity on smart-phones. They’re typically looking for local solutions: the nearest real estate agent, the nearest pizza restaurant, the nearest child care centre. They lose patience with companies they can’t find.

TFR – Can you please give a brief explanation of ‘search engine optimization’ (SEO) and how this might be relevant to franchise systems?

RM – The Google algorithm aims to bring the most relevant results to every user query. The results may be a website, a map, a photo or a Blog. It could be local or from overseas. The single most important thing that every business should do is make sure they have relevant information on their website about their stores, their brands, their product and their opening hours.

One of the most important places for businesses ( especially small businesses) to control and optimize their online information is in Google Places. Google Places allows you to list your address, add photos for business and manage the information about your business. This makes it easier for the Google algorithm to list you as a relevant answer to a user query.

TFR – What advice would you give franchisees considering using Google as part of their local area marketing.

RM – Like many business decisions, different organizations will choose to interact with Google in different ways. Some will do it themselves, some will use authorized sellers and agencies, and some will use a combination. The most important decision to make is to decide your online strategy – how will your information appear online and what do you want to tell people about your business? With those clear goals in mind, marketing online becomes a matter of tailoring a solution to fit your business needs.

The first place to start is Google Search. Think of the queries that people might use to find you, and work to have your business appear for relevant terms. The second place to start is Google Places, to manage your business listing. From there, use the measurability of online marketing to test, learn and refine your activity for future growth.

Source: The Franchise Review (TFR)

Google’s Research Into Australian Consumers is a post from: devalog

‘THERE are about 90 staff working across six Subway restaurants on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and Subway owner Jason Sandford-Bell was looking to gain control of a spiraling wages bill.

Having attempted a paper-based system and Excel spreadsheets to try to determine costs, Mr Sandford-Bell was no closer to an accurate forecast.

“We were using a fairly complicated Excel spreadsheet, which was all done by the managers individually on the computer system at the stores,” Mr Sandford-Bell said.

“One of the problems was it was taking a manager up to an hour to be able to get the roster correct because it was a fairly cumbersome way of doing it.”

And there was no way of confirming if staff members were available for a shift other than what was written on an availability book. “It was quite slow and time-consuming, and it really just failed in its accuracy on a regular basis,” he said.

Mr Sandford-Bell searched the internet, spoke to other franchisees, as well as head office group Subway Systems Australia, which recommended web-based employee scheduling and rostering solution Roster with ROSS. The program was developed by South Australian company Zarloc.

“We started looking into it and did a trial run and it was immediately clear how successful it was compared with what we were doing, and how it would help longer-term.”

Mr Sandford-Bell said the program was the most user-friendly for staff, with on-call and email support as well as systen training provided. It was rolled out across all six Subway stores about seven months ago.

“The staff can log on from anywhere, with their own log-on details, to put their availability down,” he said. “They can view the roster online and they receive it via email.”

Mr Sandford-Bell said store managers were able to see exactly what their roster costs would be for the week. “They put the percentage into the program that we want to achieve, they start allocating shifts, which are all hourly-based, because they have got the hourly rate for the staff member in, and it calculates an hourly cost, daily cost and then a weekly cost. It means we can hit a percentage very accurately, which we never used to be able to with the Excel spreadsheet.”

Mr Sandford-Bell said the ROSS system could link with Subway’s point-of-sale program.

“It gives you a guideline of how many staff you should have on — so it helps you to roster your system based on your previous sales from the year before.”

At the close of a week, ROSS exports time and attendance data to accounting packages. Mr Sandford-Bell said it now took a manager just three to five minutes to complete a roster, which was delivered via email and SMS.

He said the group was able to aim for a set percentage of 25 per cent of total sales per store collectively allocated to wages.

“Using this program, we can hit that percentage every week and we have shaved close to five to six per cent off our wage bill from this time last year,” Mr Sandford-Bell said.

He expects to save between $90,000 and $130,000 in reduced wages for the year.

“A lot of our staff are Gen Y and they are really adept at being online and used to being on the internet, so this isn’t a burden for them, they actually quite enjoy it,” Mr Sandford-Bell said.

The ROSS system is priced per roster, with free upgrades. Mr Sandford-Bell pays about $7-$8 per weekly roster for six stores, plus an administration roster. He is invoiced monthly and pays up to $220 a month.

“Plus any little upgrades that we wanted they did for us, and they were able to adapt the program to make it even better for us.”

Mr Sandford-Bell next plans to trial a new addition to the ROSS system with a “clocking on” style program for staff members.

CASE STUDY: SUBWAY

The problem: The company lacked tools to accurately forecast labour costs. It needed a faster way to confirm staff availability and produce rosters.

The process: Web-based employee scheduling was introduced, and rostering system Roster with ROSS, developed by Zarloc.

The result: Labour costs are down by between $90,000 and $130,000 a year. Shift information is delivered by email and SMS.’

Source: The Australian

Spreadsheets Out & Online Rostering System In Equals More Profit is a post from: devalog