4Front eMarketing

A Simple Cost Effective SEO Strategy

Admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:35:49 +0000

Many website owners come to me requesting information about how they can search engine optimise their website. As with all things in life there is an easy answer and a complex one and you will be delighted to know that today I have chosen the simple one to give you as an easy and affordable tip for your business.

First off this post assumes you know the difference between paid and free search engine marketing and that you as the business owner want to appear in the free listings.

The free listings is what we SEO geeks call the natural results or another word the organic results. To appear in these free listings can take time depending on the keywords you want to rank for and we typically advise a period of 3-6 months before any noticeable organic search results come through for your website.

So what should I be doing during this 6 month period?

This is a good question and why I wrote this article because their really is so much that you could be doing that it can be incredibly overwhelming. However I have not forgotten, I will keep this post simple and therefore I will answer this question with a simple phrase we have all heard before.

“Content is King.”

Begin writing articles and information that is both informative to your website readers and optimised for search engines full of relevant keywords. As you do this you give your website more and more chance of appearing for more and more searches from search leads.

To give you an example

This week I blogged about a Kelloggs advertising video and posted it to this blog. Within 10 minutes of writing the article it was already in position 23 on the Google Search results for the keyword “Kelloggs.” Now our website has nothing to do with breakfast or cereal but still we got the listing.

The reason I bring this up is not because we were trying to rank for the keyword Kelloggs, we honestly couldn’t care quite honestly. The point I am making is that as you write more content for your website you begin to start ranking for more keywords potentially even you never thought of that your clients could be using to find you online. This gives you greater exposure to more potential leads.

But I don’t want to Write content!!!

Yes we know this, most business owners don’t have the time or will-power to do this REGULARLY and that is why copy writing is a core focus at 4Front eMarketing which we do for our clients.

Would you like to begin applying this simple strategy for your business. If yes give us a buzz.

Kelloggs creates Serengeti Wildlife Viral

Admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:16:29 +0000

I have come across a rather bizarre advertising campaign by Kelloggs clearly designed to create an online viral affect. In the video they have created a wildlife environment full of populamb herds, lurking chopperdiles and dangerous spoonephants. You can view the video below.

I personally think the concept as created by Leo Burnett is a brilliant one in terms of breathing new life into a rather mundane household item. However the execution of the concept I feel could have been somewhat better and of a higher standard.

You may ask why I feel that the video is a failure? And my answer is simple, I don’t really feel the need to tell my friends about this video as a way of getting some entertainment. Plus I don’t feel younger audiences will be that attracted to these weird creatures unless an interesting story starts to unfold in the Serengeti.

This concept does lead itself to potential future releases of the chronicles of these “animals”, so let us not totally write off this campaign from Kelloggs.

The Tricky Question Of Keywords

Admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:26:29 +0000

I was musing the other day about the way the human mind works. And how hard it is to predict. You might think I was faced with a particularly difficult relationship situation but it was not that kind of thing that was on my mind. It was keyword research.

I know, I really should get out more.

Anyway the thing that was particularly puzzling me is why so many of my clients find this little concept one of the hardest grasp when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). I am not calling my clients stupid, in fact, far from it. SEO can be a tricky little business and most of clients show an admirable ability to grasp it. It is just keywords that are hard.

Wondering why this was I came to the conclusion it is because it involves getting inside people’s heads. It is a bit like a game of Family Fortune. The TV quiz show where they ask the panelist to guess what most people said when asked a certain question. Those that guess the most popular response win the points. Keywords are very similar. In the very first step it is about guessing how people think.

I have been doing this for so long now that my guesses are often fairly educated but I thought I would share my keyword finding process with you.

I brainstorm every single phrase or word I can think of that people might dream up to type in for this niche. Go a little crazy, it is quite therapeutic.
Then I use one (or maybe two or three) of the effective tools from the net to pull some search volume stats on my ideas.
I check out how much competition each phrase has got. Google and see how many returns you get.
I work out, given the figures above, what the relative merits are of each of the phrases people are using. You need to take into account the amount competition for each and weigh it against the number of searches conducted if you want a decent chance of ranking well with the phrase.

I hope this helps a little with your keyword research. If not drop me a line and I will be happy to give you a fuller explanation of the process.

The insight into people’s minds I cannot help you with. I guess it is just a talent.

Cola Cola Spreads Happiness (eMarketing Viral)

Admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:47:50 +0000

If you have not seen the brilliant Coca Cola Happiness Machine video then you owe it to yourself to watch it now below. Not least of all because what I am going to say next will make very little sense without you viewing it.

This video went viral in a major way. Estimations put its global viewings at 712 000 in the first 24 hours. You have just added yourself to the number that has seen it and I am blogging about it. Pretty powerful stuff.

Coca Cola clearly got many things right with this stunt. It hit their target audience bang on and it grabbed their interest. I have a a question though. What made the teenagers in the video behave the way they did? It becomes clear later on in the video that this is more than a case of the machine malfunctioning but at first that could be exactly what it is.

Believe it or not I have seen a vending machine malfunction first hand. Trust me the reaction was not one that Coke would have wanted to broadcast. Kids pushed and shoved and certainly did not hand the emerging products around with a smile of their face.

Why was this so different?

The first reason is that Coke have chosen their mark very well. The teenagers are college students, a little older than the ones I saw who were Highs School students. I am also willing to bet that plenty of research had been done into the types of kids that attend that particular campus.

The second reason is the most interesting though. Coke has the most awesome marketing department of any product in the world (or at least one of them). They have already established an image for their product that suggests fun and lightheartedness and the kids in the video have been bought up with it. It may sound odd but those teenagers trust that machine.

Please do not get me wrong I am not criticizing Coke. This is a work of brilliance. I am just saying that there is even more at work here than many marketers give it credit for and we can all learn plenty from it.

Eye Tracking Results on Google Reveal Interesting Trends

Admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:03:26 +0000

The average searcher on Google spends less than 7 seconds looking at search engine results before making a click decision. So where exactly are people looking when on a search engine results page? The answers to this is necessary for planning online advertising campaigns.

The official Google Blog had the following comments to make.

Based on eye-tracking studies, we know that people tend to scan the search results in order. They start from the first result and continue down the list until they find a result they consider helpful and click it — or until they decide to refine their query. The heatmap below shows the activity of 34 usability study participants scanning a typical Google results page. The darker the pattern, the more time they spent looking at that part of the page. This pattern suggests that the order in which Google returned the results was successful; most users found what they were looking for among the first two results and they never needed to go further down the page.

What can we conclude from the above?

The top 2 positions on the Google results page are where the most heat and clicks will result. Also notice how the heat is on the left hand side and not on the right, which could be a condition of our western culture where we read from top left to right. It would be very interesting to see these studies on Chinese and other Asian based search engines. (Maybe we will try and find some of these in a future article.)

The left hand side of these results is what Google and search engine professionals call the Natural or Organic results. The adverts that occupy the right hand side are called pay per click adverts (PPC) which Google calls Adwords. However as much as we as 4Fronters love how pay per click brings immediate clicks to website properties what we are seeing here is that the real value is in optimising the natural search engine results to get the most clicks.

We don’t recommend abandoning Adwords, but just bear in mind that the best combination to get the most clicks is both a focus on pay per click and natural search engine results in the long term.

How To Appear In Local Google Listings

Admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:12:53 +0000

We are often asked at 4Front how do I get my website to appear in the results from New Zealand listings on Google? The answer is simple in that it depends on two primary conditions, which need to be in place…

So how do you do it?

Domain names

The choice of the domain name of your website is a key element that informs the Google Search engine of your location. For example if your domain name is yourbusiness.co.nz the .co.nz at the end of your domain identifies you to Google as a New Zealand based website. By having such a domain name you will appear in the local New Zealand search results and not just the international listings.

Hosting

The other way of getting your website listed as a “local” is simply to host your website at a local website hosting provider with servers based in your country of choice. If you want to appear in the local listings of South Africa for example then hosting at one of their hosting providers would get you listed in the South African search results even if you had a New Zealand domain name.

This leads onto an important point!

You do not need to have both a New Zealand Domain name and New Zealand based hosting to appear in New Zealand results. You simply need to have one or the other in place and you will get local listed. This is handy information if you are wanting to appear in more than one local index for your business.

Tip

Another option that will help in Google identifying your website’s targeted audience is by using the Google local business center. Here you can tell Google more about your business website and who you serve etc. and this has a positive affect for you in that Google is able to better display your website to people who are in your area and interested in what you do. Visit the Google Local Business Centre and enter your details. It will only take about 5 minutes.

New Website live!

Admin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:04:47 +0000

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website to promote our services into the New Zealand market. This website will be the source of excellent information on the exciting eMarketing Advertising sector which is set for exponential growth in New Zealand. The website will also be the base of some rather interesting and “stoking the fire” campaigns which we are working on at this time.

So why not give us a contact and see how we can also bring your business to the 4Front.

TradeME

Admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:11:06 +0000

So you are looking for TradeMe New Zealand?

TradeMe is arguably one of the most recognised business brands in the whole of New Zealand and for good reason. They have created a platform that is simple to use and fulfills a real need for people to sell and buy with each other all over New Zealand.

Now the reason we decided to create this page was not too alarm you to any sinister activities occurring at the TradeMe offices but to highlight what we as 4Front eMarketing represent.

We decided to compete on one of the most competitive and searched for keywords online in the whole of New Zealand. And then to appear right next to the official website for that word with our own website. It is a large ask but we are confident in our skills to market businesses over the Internet and will keep this page updated with the latest news.

We encourage you to keep this website bookmarked for future and when you plan your next eMarketing Campaign so you will remember who are the people to contact for online success. 4Front eMarketing.

Now if you want to go to TradeMe, here is the link-love to TRADEME NZ. Or and we do recommend this. Stay on this website a little longer, find out what we can do for you and get in touch to begin an eMarketing campaign for your business.