Internet Marketing Newsletter

Edition 15 , March 2012

2012 Trends, E-Commerce And New Pricing We have worked hard in the last few months to streamline our SEO processes to become more efficient – and you are the beneficiaries. We are happy to announce that the resulting price saving will be past on to you, our clients. In the special announcement of this newsletter, you will find information on how the 4 month SEO packages are being phased out, the new alternatives and our special offer for April. The online marketing world is constantly changing – that’s why a newsletter like this is useful for you to keep up with new trends and to consider what solutions might fit your business and your client base. Last year, the article on our predictions for 2011 was very popular, so this newsletter includes an article with our predictions for the five biggest trends in 2012. Guest author Chris Bryant from OPMC has written an article on the variety of E-commerce solutions available to businesses today, and the 3 biggest challenges that online store owners face.

As always, if you have any questions about our products or services, or any feedback for our newsletter, we would love to hear from you. All the best,

Janna Jungclaus And the Eminent Online Marketing Team Mob: 0423 369 070

Google SEO Update In a recent announcement Google foreshadowed that overly optimized website will be dropped from the search engine rankings in the near future. What does that mean? Google is putting more emphasis on relevant content for the user and less emphasis on the off-page SEO factors. What does that mean for you? We always advise our clients to keep their website visitors in mind first. To provide relevant and interesting content is the key for people to want to come to your website. In past updates our clients’ websites have improved in rankings as our SEO process takes steady and constant approach, rather than a “fast and furious” approach to over optimises but compromises quality. If you have any questions about your website SEO and this Google update, give Janna a call on 0423 369 070.

EOM New prices At Eminent Online Marketing we are always striving for improvement and innovation. In the last 3 months we have had the goal to improve and streamline our SEO process to increase its efficiency. The cost saving achieved in the process will be passed on to you, our clients. Now the resulting monthly SEO packages are ready to be rolled out for you to receive the benefits. Previous SEO Packages No Longer Available The 4 month SEO packages that we offered for the last year and a half have been phased out. After long months of testing and tracking the rankings and results, we found that monthly SEO services over a six to eight month period achieve much better results in rankings, traffic and lead generation. Consistency in SEO is they key; and this approach allows business owners to spread the cost over a period of six months rather than four months. What Is The Alternative? The alternative is the monthly SEO service, which we recommend should be taken out for a period of six to eight months. This service is paid monthly in advance and we have several options for differing circumstances:

• Small Business or Start Ups $650/ month ex GST • SMEs in competitive markets $1,500/ month ex GST • SMEs in highly competitive markets or proven return on online marketing $2,500/ month

ex GST

Of course we are happy to discuss your individual needs should you feel you don’t fit into any of these categories. What Are You Saving? The four month SEO package for was priced at $4,450 over a four month period. Spread over the period of six months, this equals $741 per month. You now have the option of choosing the $650 / month package which saves you nearly $100 per month. What’s Next? Because we are so excited to roll out the new pricing, we have decided to put together a special offer for you that is available until 16th April 2012.

If you take up our offer of a monthly SEO package by 16th April 2012, you will receive the 7th month free plus two additional online press

releases within the period of your first six month SEO contract.

5 Most Important Trends For 2012 As we did in previous years, we want to give you an overview of the most important trends for this year. Not all trends may be applicable for your business and your customers. And by no means do we claim to specialize in each and every one of these trends. However, we continuously get feedback from our clients that they want to know what is happening in the online marketing world – even if it is just to know what NOT to do. Here are our five most important trends for 2012. Consolidation of Discounts and Coupons The daily deals craze has been going on for about 2 years in Australia. Consumers are continuing to look for discounts and coupons in nearly all industries from dining, to travel, health and beauty and even services. StarDeals, Groupon, LivingSocial, OurDeals, JumpOnIt, Spreets… These are only a few of the daily deals sites that some of our clients have used. We have previously written about the pros and cons of offering Daily Deals (see Newsletter August 2011 for using Daily Deals for seasonal marketing and Newsletter May 2011 for Pros and Cons of offering discount vouchers). So, what is going to happen in the discounts and coupons industries? Our prediction is that the industry is going to consolidate, with the bigger sites buying up the smaller players. What does this mean for businesses? The ongoing chance to attract new customers through deals sites, and hopefully a more regulated industry that brings about a win-win-win situation for businesses, customers and the deals sites. Targeting Targeting specific customer groups through online marketing has been on the rise for several years. This means displaying ads to only a specific target group identified by gender, age, income, etc. Targeting has been an increased focus for marketers and developers, especially as people have started to share more personal information about themselves via social networks. Facebook Ads Facebook Ads is undoubtedly the king of targeted ads at the moment. Advertisers can target their audience by gender, age bracket, location, job, personal interest and association to certain pages. Other social networks are looking to follow Facebook’s example and use the data that users share about themselves to attract advertisers. What does this mean for businesses? Marketing budgets can be invested much more specifically targeted to the ideal customers. With the appropriate measuring and tracking techniques this should lead to an increased efficiency of the marketing budget.

However, businesses need to be careful not to overdo it. We predict consumers are going to get increasingly tired of being targeted by ads in their social environment. It is also likely that consumers are only now starting to wake up to the fact that they are sharing this much information with advertisers and therefore remove themselves from the advertisers reach. Surveying customer’s response to marketing and advertising techniques is the best way not to risk the goodwill and reputation of your company amongst consumers. Google AdWords Until recently, Google AdWords had been targeting consumers mainly based on the searches they performed. However, now Google has introduced a technique called “remarketing” which allows advertisers to follow a visitor with their ads. How does this work? Imagine you visit the website of Company A. You are looking at their offer but decide not to buy. In the following days you start to see their ads all over the internet. This may last 30 days, 60 days or even 90 days. What happened? When you visited Company A’s website but left without making a purchase, they tagged you as someone who is interested in the business but did not buy. Now they are showing you banners about their business throughout the Google Content Network (the network of publishers that display Google Ads throughout the web). Again, this is a highly targeted advertising campaign that can increase the exposure of a business in relation to their target market. Because the advertiser only pays when someone actually clicks on their ad, this is a highly efficient way to increase the exposure of your business. Mobile Marketing Mobile is booming. Last year people were still asking, do we really need a mobile website? Now it has become clear that businesses and marketers need to keep pace if they want to reach these

What Is Pinterest? Pinterest is officially the fastest ever growing website! It's a website where people post cool pictures inside specialized pages called Pinboards—topics like art, cars, tasty food, and any other categories you can come up with. Why should you pay attention? According to a social bookmarking study online, Pinterest refers more traffic to publishers than YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, MySpace or Google+ — for retailers especially. Who uses it? Its demographics is 80% female and 55% of its users are between 25 and 44 years old. How do I start? Go to http://pinterest.com/ check out the pretty pictures and request an invite to start you own account and get pinning.

consumers. Australia has the highest smart phone adoption rate world-wide, and therefore mobile marketing trends are increasingly important. A recent study commissioned by Google commissioned found four particular trends relating to mobile search:

• Mobile users are seeking local information. • They are searching with greater urgency than desktop searchers. • They find new ways to entertain themselves • They use phones as shopping companions.

So, what opportunities are there for businesses on mobile? Advertising On Mobile Devices Google AdWords, one of the biggest online advertising platform last year introduced the ability for advertisers to create campaigns specifically targeted at mobile users. These mobile campaigns only show up when the search is performed on a mobile device. One of the advantages is the ‘click to call’ functionality, which allows users to call the advertiser straight away. The advantage for advertisers is that they essentially pay per call, instead of per click. The result is a higher conversion rate and a lower cost per click. A very efficient way to reach your target market while they are “on the go”. Personalised Search Results Many search engines are stepping up their effort to personalise search results to increase the relevancy of results for the individual user. Results can be personalised if you are logged into an account (such as a Gmail account or any other Google account), tracked via IP address, aimed at the device you are searching from (mobile or desktop), and targeted towards your general online behaviour.

For example a search engine would collect the type of websites you have visited and therefore determine whether you are male or female. Of course these assumptions are not always

correct, but they are used to display individualized content for male or female searchers through platforms such as Google AdWords. The indicators are simple. For example, looking at sport sites would more likely indicate that you are male, while looking at beauty websites would indicate that you are female. Personalised search results are also more likely to show you ads from websites that you have previously visited.

Other personalised search results include sharing by your

contacts, such as Gmail contacts, Twitter connections, etc. For example, being logged into Google Account, shows you results that your contacts or connections have shared especially via Twitter and Google Plus. Reviews and Social Indicators Reviews and other social indicators, such as ratings, and thumbs up continue to grow in importance. The introduction of reviews and ratings started a few years ago with online directories such as Yelp and Google Places listings. It continued to grow as people were looking for genuine feedback on service providers and products. In the future it is likely that reviews will be combined with paid advertising. This feature is already available via Google AdWords in the US and likely to be introduced to Australian in 2012. This system is integrated with the current Google AdWords system of bidding for your desired keyword. Having more reviews (apparently 20+ reviews are required to make an impact) lowers the cost per click for the advertisers. Reviews and other social indicators are also gaining importance for organic search engine results, as they indicate relevance and are often visited by searchers. Business owners should focus on increasing the reviews about their business online. Simple procedures, such as sending a link with a feedback form, or giving away prizes amongst reviewers can encourage customers and clients to post reviews.

E-Commerce Guest article by Chris Bryant, OPMC. OPMC specialises in web based business solutions, in particular E-commerce, website development and maintencance, and web hosting. www.opmc.com.au

With the rising popularity and increased media coverage of growth in online sales, there is a fantastic opportunity for Australian

businesses to consider selling online - whether as a new venture or a natural extension of their existing business. Unfortunately it's also the perfect opportunity for business owners to be taken advantage of by those who may have just enough knowledge of setting up online stores to be dangerous, but not enough to provide long term value to business owners. An online store can exist in many different forms. It might be a completely separate website from your normal operations, or might be integrated in your existing website. It could be just a simple "Pay now" Paypal button, or a full customer experience with shopping cart, wishlists and redeemable coupons. Here is a quick summary of some of the options available. "Click here to buy" Paypal buttons Paypal (www.paypal.com.au) allows businesses to accept payments online without needing a merchant account with the bank. With Paypal, it’s easy to sell items for a fixed amount direct on your website with the click of a button. There is also the ability to offer product options - customers select what they want from a drop down list, and then pay with their credit card or

Paypal account (which is funded from their bank account). This is most certainly the easiest way to sell online, and is very popular. However, we find one of the main issues with Paypal is it can be a barrier to selling. Many people prefer to pay using their credit card, and while Paypal allows this, they don't make it an

easy choice, which can lose sales. Paypal buttons are a great solution when you're only selling several products and are looking for a simple solution. DIY online store There are many free software DIY solutions out there, some of which are very good. These include:

• WooCommerce - http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce • WP e-commerce - http://www.getshopped.org • Shopp - http://shopplugin.net

With enough patience, research and time, you can get one of these online stores going yourself. For those on a low budget, this is a great way to start selling online for very little cost.

Some people prefer this option, but don't want to get into the technical jargon. That's when you can benefit from some professional help to get the basic technical setup done for you, and then do the rest yourself. I would advise using a professional to get the basic installation done for you. Then you receive access to the administrative area and you're on your way. This solution is great for anything from 1 - 1,000+ products. Fully customised solution DIY free software is just that - it comes as is. When it doesn't work exactly how you want, or you want more functionality, you'll need someone to customise it for you. As your customer base and sales grow, it’s a natural step to want your online store to do more things, look nicer and work better. With the right planning, an initial DIY solution can be upgraded as budget permits to better suit your needs. Licenced solution A licenced solution can be a basic, low-cost $40 per month option with no up front costs, or it can be as much as $150 per month with $20,000 worth of development costs. The main thing you need to know about licenced solutions is, that you don't own the software. So once you've bought into the solution, extracting yourself from it can be costly and detrimental to your business. Generally, I don’t recommend this option, as your future needs may require abandoning your investment to date. Get the right advice There are three areas in which we often advise businesses that approach us when they get into trouble with their online stores. Of course we always recommend our clients implement preventative measures to reduce their risk before these problems even occur. Backups If your site is not backed up regularly, and properly, if something goes wrong you will lose everything. There is often no "safety net" for these things. You should plan for the worst, which will leave you best prepared. Upgrades With many of these solutions, the simple click of a button means you can upgrade your online store software automatically. But be warned: Upgrading automatically will do just that - it does not

take into consideration all your data like a person would. Upgrading automatically can wipe out your online store and you can lose all your data in an instant. Hacking If your site is hacked you need to have a plan to deal with this, and you don't want to lose all your hard earned work. In summary my recommendation is, get some good advice from a professional when embarking on an online store for your business. Anyone can make an online store for you these days, so it's a matter of whether they will do a good job and can they provide the support you need as your business grows.

Success Story Our favourite success stories are those of clients who have been with us for a long time. Wendy Mak from Smitten With Style is one of those clients; she has been using our SEO services for over 2 years. When she launched her new business Australian Institute of Styling, she asked us to also look after this website. Having worked with her website designer over the last 2 years and knowing her target market online, set us up as a well oiled machine. After only two months, her new website http://australianinstituteofstyling.com.au/ already has four top 5 rankings. Congratulations Wendy

”Janna has been instrumental in growing my business. We have now reduced all AdWords spending and get all our leads through SEO.“

- Wendy Mak, Smitten With Style, Australian Institute of Styling

Take Up The Special Offer Remember, our special offer is available until 16th April 2012. It is a great chance to take advante of the new and improved SEO process and get an additional two online press releases! We look forward to hearing from you! Yours, Janna Jungclaus Eminent Online Marketing

http://www.eminentonlinemarketing.com.au janna@eminentonlinemarketing.com.au Ph: 0423 369 070