Big changes for Google Places this week with the integration into Google’s social media platform Google+ to create the all new Google+ Local. We find it be a lot similar to how you can check into a business via Places on Facebook, leave comments, share with friends but you can now do this by logging into your Gmail account and using Google+. This is obviously a big push from Google to get more people to use their platform and get businesses more involved with Google+, we also understand by Google making this integration, Google Places will see a lot more features introduced in the near future. We really like the new layout, it’s simple and gives you all the information you need at a glance. We also like that there’s a lot more information about the users who’s leaving the feedback and this gives you a clearer indication of where else this person has visited and what else they’ve commented on. Google+ Local drops the old star rating system for the Zagat review system , better known in the US for decades for their restaurant reviews. The rating system is now based on a 0 to 3 point scale. (see image)

• 3 = Excellent
• 2 = Very Good
• 1 = Good
• 0 Poor to Fair

These scores are then averaged by Google and the business is given a total score:

• 26-30 Extraordinary to perfection
• 21-25 Very good to excellent
• 16-20 Good to very good
• 10-15 Fair to good
• 0-9 Poor to fair

Main Changes:

• No more stars, a score out of 3
• Businesses get a total score that is average by Google
• Clearer and more substantiated reviews from friends and visitors
• More features coming

  To find out more about Google Places, Google+ Local speak to one of our specialists click here

We’re lucky enough to speak to thousands of Australian businesses every month and we understand how disturbing it is to be paying thousands of dollars in marketing and optimising your website and not really know if it’s working or if it’s worth the money you’re spending.

We have put together a very simple survey that pumps out an answer or several answers on why your marketing might not be working or why your website is not getting the targeted traffic you’re after. This is an obligation free service that we provide and no there’s nothing you need to buy. Click below fill in your details and we will organise your free analysis (takes about 10minutes)

SEO Team.

Optimise Your Business In Google Local (Places) for under $6 It’s no secret that the old ways of advertising like local newspapers and directory books are dying a slow death becoming less effective for small business, especially when 82% of all local business searches are done in Google. We have been able to see the success of many of our customers who have seen real results and real business coming through the door within their first 4 weeks! So is online marketing the answer? Yes, but not all online marketing is the same. There’s 2 forms of online marketing:

1. Advertising that helps grow traffic to your website
2. Advertising that get’s your phone ringing

Let’s talk about no.1, this form of advertising is great if you have a website and the website is designed to turn traffic into calls or sales online and this is what we call a high converting website. Unfortunately, most websites are a tangled web and are either too simple with no information, no direction or too complex causing potential customers to leave before taking any action. The No.2 type of advertising is powerful yet hard to find, advertising that simply gets you the right kind of customers picking up their phones and calling you. This is where Google Local also known as Google Places comes in, the service is dedicated to helping you convert business interest in your local area into real business dollars. How does it do this? Let’s me you an example, Mr & Mr. Smith are watching a home renovation show on the weekend and decide that it’s time to give their house a fresh coat of paint, they jump online and search Google or they can’t be bothered getting up at all and do a quick search on their iPhone using Google to search for a “Painter” in “their local area” Google pops up a map (as seen below) and next to the map are the top 7 painters in that local area. The easy part is that next to each of the painters is their business name, website and their contact number and you’re one click away from calling the painter and getting a quick quote. Easy! So how do you get your business in the TOP 7 in Google Places?

This is a great opportunity for any business looking to grow online using the world’s largest search engine “Google” and join our successful customers who have been able to turn Google traffic into profits for their businesses. Want more information? click here for our contact details Timmy Sabre

September Special (Normally $999) Take your old tired website and give it a much needed face lift to the award winning WordPress system, it’s a businesses dream, a website that can be easily managed internally without the constant need for a designer. How easy is it? Can you write and send an email? Yes, it’s that easy. All our website packages come with the following to make sure you get the best value: 1 on 1 Training – Showing you how to manage and update your own website Award winning WordPress – CMS (Content Management System) back end used by some of the bests company in the world like Google, VW, The New York Times, Sony, Sumsung, Mozilla, Flikr and of course Publicity Monster. Custom emails – finally you can stop using that old hotmail account for your business and start using yourname@yourbusiness.com.au SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – We upgrade your website so it’s optimised for the most powerful search engine in the world and in Australia - Google! We will also work to get your business name and your service or product optimised in your local area. NOW ADD EXTRA FEATURES:

• A BLOG – Keep customers up to date with your business and specials
• GOOGLE ANALYTICS – Get detailed statistics on your visitors, what where and for how long?
• FACEBOOK SHARE
• TWITTER SHARE
• LIVE CHAT – Allow customer to chat to you directly from the website and close a lot more business
• E-COMMERCE – sell products and services from your website
• GALLERIES – Feature your work and show prospective customer and that’s just the tip of the iceberg
• Google Local (Places) – Get your business featured at the top of search the search results in your local area

Get your business listed and optimised for the top of Google Local (Places) Australia today for as little as only $6 a week.

Why optimise your business in now?

1. There’s only Top 7 spots available in each suburb
2. Unlimited leads (you don’t pay per click or per lead)
3. 82% of all Australians go online to find their local business
4. 92% of all Australian’s online use Google
5. 12 times more people use Google than Yellow Pages Books
6. 18 times more people use Google than local newspapers
7. Due to high use of iPhone & smart phones – Google Places is the first choice in search
8. Be found easily by existing customers looking for your number
9. Get called by new opportunities in your local area
10. Jump ahead of your competition
11. Google Places mini-site featuring photos, testimonials, opening times, details about your business
12. Get quality targeted website traffic
13. Detailed statistics showing you who is searching for you, where they came from and what they’re looking for
14. 12 months support & assistance with your listing optimisation
15. Thousands of satisfied customers, see testimonials

Ask us how we can help optimise your business to appear in the top search results in your local area. We specialise in listing your local business in Google Places and Google Places Optimisation to help your business grow online Contact us

Google Local (Places) is for you! Watch the 2 minute video below.

Some people are so disappointed with no traffic coming to their website. How good your products and services is still no any profit. What should we do? We must know how to do search engine optimization. 1. Keywords Don’t be too lazy. The most important thing to do is marketing research. You must know which keywords are more likely to be searched by people to find your site. Put emphasis on popular keywords regarding to your business or product. Domain Name, Title Tag, Content, Photos should be included keywords. But don’t be so greedy for putting keywords repeatedly in one page. It is suggested that one keyword should not more than 5%. Let I use web design as example. In the past 30 days, there are 323678 searchers searched “Web Design”. The figure helps us to identify what is popular keyword regarding to your business. You should look for that keywords are high in demand, but don’t have much more competitor. 2. Title Tag Use keywords in your title tag.You should place the most popular keywords in your page and include in your content. Title tag is the first thing that the search engines crawler will see. The keywords should be added in the frontend and backend. 3. Change content regularly Search engines love a web site which update and change content regularly. Also do not try to copy other site’s articles to your site. You should do something different. It is the best to have a unique content. It is the way to bring browsers come again. For example, if your eshop sell health products, you should write some articles in related to health message, such as teach them how to maintain healthy life. 4. Informative content Having attractive contents are very important to bring visitors come again. This means that your website should have more informative articles. For example, if you sell cake, it is better to tell more about the production, recipe and after-sales service. 5.E Marketing (i) Pay Per Click PPC providers exist, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter, are the largest network operator. You need to set what is your budget per day or per month, they would spider your ads to maximize exposure, e.g. blog, web site, forum, etc. PPC would be the fastest way bring business, because of your ads would be displayed at the most eye-catching place. Apart from paid advertisement, there are many free ways to promote your products, e.g.Blog, Video, Ebanner, Enewsletters, Email, Auction, etc. Try to do creative, don’t copy other’s idea. I have studied Internet Marketing and have a few years experience in web promotion and web design. Author: Cherry Fong Article Source: EzineArticles.com

B2B and industrial companies are slow to embrace online marketing. It’s a curious reluctance given that online marketing is performance-driven, pays for itself, and consistently delivers new, qualified business that can mean dramatic increases in sales and growth. So, why are some companies sometimes reticent about using online marketing when the benefits in terms of exposure and revenue are so substantial? We thought we’d seek out those with the answers. Direct From the Source We talked to CEOs and Marketing Managers of companies that have embraced online marketing. These industry leaders are quick to confirm that Internet marketing more than pays for itself. In addition, in a short period of time online marketing has become a critical, indispensable channel for generating customer awareness and sales directly enhancing the bottom line. The message from industry insiders clear: The risk involved with online marketing is small. The rewards are infinite. We asked a number of your B2B colleagues what it would have cost them to delay embracing the power of online marketing. This is what they had to say. Lost Business Experts agree that online search has become the primary source of information for those making B2B buying decisions. Most business consumers first turn to a search engine during the investigation phase of their buying process, and just about all of them will use the Internet at some point during the decision-making process. That’s right. Nearly all of them. That’s a staggering fact, and those who have taken advantage of online marketing know this trend is some of the best news in decades for companies willing to exploit the new ways businesses do business. The reliance on search in the buying process means your company has never had a better opportunity to reach and capture new business. But it also means that every day you wait means business lost to your competitors. Online Marketing Pays for Itself Industry pros understand the bottom line and the need for measurable returns on any investment, especially when it comes to spends for advertising and marketing. They also understand that online marketing is one of the few methods guaranteed to pay for itself. Online marketing, specifically paid placement and search engine optimization, have a proven track record in giving companies the highest returns of any vehicle in their marketing mix. In addition, online marketing is a low-risk proposition because it’s based on performance. You pay only if a potential customer clicks on your ad. Utilizing that system, the cost of acquiring a customer is dramatically reduced. Those in the know insist online marketing generates 20-50% of the qualified sales leads in industries that have traditionally relied on sales prospecting, word-of-mouth and trade shows. The numbers don’t lie. What is your company waiting for? Competition Everyone wants a competitive advantage, but even tried and tested methods can’t keep pace with the monumental strides being made with online marketing. With online marketing, you can fend off your competitors and dominate niche markets. The Internet creates a level playing field where businesses of all sizes can compete. Anyone can stake a position as a leader. What would it be worth to your company to be in that position? And here’s another insight we heard from B2B pros. One of the unique benefits of the Internet is that is affords smaller businesses the chance to appear bigger than they are. Online, a three-person operation can look slicker than an international conglomerate. You can turn this to your advantage with a minimal investment of time and money. Indextree can show you the way. So, why is it important to dive into the world of online marketing now? The hard fact we hear from B2Bs is that once a company entrenches itself in a certain arena online, it’s hard to dislodge it. At the moment, in most industries, search rankings and market dominance aren’t set yet. They will be, and it will cost you more down the road to accomplish what you can accomplish now with far fewer resources. As in most areas of business, in the realm of online marketing, it pays to act decisively.. Online Buyers are Ready to Buy Those who have reaped the rewards of online marketing will attest to the fact that customers who research and compare products and services online are much more predisposed to buying. It’s just the nature of the medium. Much of your job of selling is done by the time someone reaches your Web site. In the world of online marketing, your customer is already looking for your product. They’re actively looking to do business with someone. That someone should be you. New competitors It’s not something you like to think about, but they’re out there, and they’re after your business. New players are entering your market every day, and they’re capturing your market share. The tools we’re talking about are a double-edged sword. If you don’t capitalize on the benefits of online marketing, do you think your competitors will hesitate to do so? Aggressive, upstart companies are pulling out all the stops, exploiting economies of scale and using online marketing to extend their reach. Don’t just wait and watch while these companies erode the fiscal health of your company. Can you really afford to have these competitors encroach on what you’ve fought so hard to build? It’s time to reclaim what’s yours, and online marketing is the answer. Commoditization Trust us, we don’t just throw around big words because it makes us feel smart. The Internet has given customers an unprecedented ability to shop and compare, often reducing the buying decision to price alone. But this “commoditization” of products doesn’t do your company justice, and your bottom line may already be suffering because of it. What’s the answer to the problem of commoditization? How do you distinguish yourself? How do you communicate your differentiating qualities to potential customers? Online marketing provides an excellent vehicle for branding and also allows you to capture potential customers earlier in the buying process. Quality business interactions are more than just a price point. Be heard. Stand out. Reap the windfall. Build Buyer Awareness and Drive Traffic Here’s the ugly truth. Many manufacturers and distributors don’t do a great job with their Web sites. We hear this time and time again not only from the CEOs and Marketing Managers, but also from consumers. Site visitors are often frustrated by poor online marketing practices. In fact, studies show two-thirds of B2B site visitors complain they don’t find what they are looking for, and almost half never return to the site as a result. Now, we’re not saying yours is one of those sites. But are you sure you’re turning Web site traffic into sales consistently? What impression are you giving potential customers when they visit your site? Are your customers telling other potential customers how professional and easy-to-use your site is? Online marketing has a lot more to do than simply having a visually appealing Web site. It’s more than simply buying keywords and hoping they’ll bring you more business. Buying unqualified leads from unknown sources is often like putting your money into a kiln. Effective online marketing requires knowledge, strategy, implementation, monitoring, and follow-through. Those are the skills and qualities we pride ourselves on at Indextree. The High Cost of Waiting on the Sidelines As you read this, there’s a good chance your competitors are working on their online marketing strategies. It’s even possible they’re making inroads into capturing key customer segments you may never be able to recapture. Is business good right now? Sure. Is it great? Could be better. With an effective online marketing strategy, it could be great. So, what’s it costing you to wait? Take it from those who have seen the benefits of online marketing firsthand. Standing on the sidelines has never been so costly. By Lawrence Johnson, the CEO of Indextree, Inc.

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