March 2013 - Hopping Mad Design

TIPS ON HOW TO GET YOUR WEBSITE LISTED IN THE MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES

List on Google Within Days

All you really need to do is go to the link http://www.google.com/addurl/ and from there you will be able to submit your domain name.
Please note that if you are already a customer of Hopping Mad Designs, we would have already done this for you as part of our service and web design protocol.

With Google, an important point to note is that you must be very patient. Of course, this is the main search engine and you want to have your site be listed as soon as it goes live, but in my experience, it can take anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks before your site gets indexed by Google. In some cases, we have launched a website and it was indexed and cached the next day and in other more remote cases, it took well over 1 week. If you have had your website designed by Hopping Mad Designs we make sure that your new website is so super search engine friendly, that it will most likely be picked up and indexed very very quickly. This is just one of the reasons why it’s best to go with a web design studio that knows the ins and outs of the search engine world.

How about yahoo?

Not as popular as Google but in any case, it is another option that you can try to get more external links back to your website. http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html.

Did You Know That True Local Can Help You Generate Leads?

True Local is owned by News Corp. Basically, it is a business directory, not too dissimilar to the Yellow Pages, but it is more focused on local search. Being listed on True Local is a great way to help your online presence and listings on Google Maps, and Yahoo 7. You can list your site for free, but this website is a business so if you want a priority position on the first page, you will need to pay for this.

Try To Get Listed on the Many Other Search Engines

There are literally thousands upon thousands of search engines to be found on the internet. In reality, you should only be concerned with 1 search engine and that is, you guessed it; Google. This has a market penetration for online searches of around 98% and is really the only place you want your website to be listed. The rest of the search engines, whilst good in their own rights, are simply nowhere near as popular as Google. Listing your website on other search engines, such as Yellow Pages, Ask.com. and Ask Jeeves, will all help your site get indexed and eventually push you up in the rankings.

Start A Facebook Page and Google Plus Page.

There is no denying it. Social media is here to stay and if you want your website to be found quickly, a sure-fire way to expedite this is to create a social media buzz around the launch of your new site. What this means is that you can create a dedicated social media page for your website and have links from these sites pointing to your site. This should trigger the search engine spiders to come looking for your site and help the whole indexing process. As an example, I have been able to write a blog article, and have it indexed and ranking on Google within 48 hours after posting the links on my Facebook and Google+ page. It’s a simple as that.

Submit Your Website To Google Maps

Targeting a geo-specific area ( like graphic designers Sydney) is awesome for your marketing and a good way for listing your new site on Google maps. Follow the prompts on the home page of Google to the maps listing area and go from there. You will have to jump through a few hurdles for verification but once that has been done you will see your site on Google Maps. This is different from organic listings, but still, it is a good way to target local clients.

Following the above tips should be enough to get your site listed. But, if you are unclear about this or need some help, please do not hesitate to call one of our very friendly staff at Hopping Mad Designs on 02 9360 8514.

ECOMMERCE WEBSITE COSTS SYDNEY

Following are a few rules that should guide you in determining the price of an ecommerce website design.

1) Are you after a customised ecommerce web design or will an off the shelf template website suffice? If you are wanting an ecommerce solution designed by a web company then you will have to pay for this privilege. Alternatively, if you are prepared to go with a cheaper ecommerce platform then obviously the cost factor will be a lot less. It is very difficult to put a price on a website whose design and user interface has been customised, but from our past experience figures of $10,000 upwards are not uncommon. On the other hand, you can get a cheap ecommerce site for anywhere from $3000 to $10000. You should note that if you use a web agency with ecommerce experience, the end result will be far better, in terms of site traffic and sales/revenue. I have seen some awesome looking sites over the years that I have eventually bought from and I have seem some total dud sites that make me want to run a mile.

2) Like most ecommerce website platforms, your site needs to generate sales. It’s the life blood of the site and it’s purpose for existence. The reality nowadays is that is you want to drive customers to your site you will need to implement a search engine campaign as part of the process; pre and post site launch. Depending on the keywords this can also add to the cost of the site but prices for ranking ecommerce sites can start at $1000. You need to note that SEO is a difficult process and it does need time and effort, hence the cost.

3) If you want your website to have all the extras like: image zoom, multiple currencies, various filters for size, colour and quantities you will have to pay a bit more for this. Some off the shelf platforms will offer this as a standard feature but any customisation or variation to what is provided will be out of the question. These types of add–ons depending on the complexity can really push the web budget especially if there is a lot of customisation that goes along with this.

4) The eCommerce web design company you decide to eventually choose will have a huge affect on the pricing. If you do your home work you will find that many companies say they are based in Sydney, but are in fact outsourcing all their work to India. These types of studios will end up being cheaper, but in the long run, will end up causing you huge dramas ( this is a whole new topic and needs to be looked at on another blog piece).

A higher priced more prestigious web company ( like us here at hopping mad designs ) often will produce more top-end, stylish and individually tailored work. Make certain that whoever you choose has an office and is readily accessible and contactable when you need them. Time differences are a killer and you do not want to have to be up all night waiting for an answer.

5) Security is a huge issue. You will have to pay on top of your yearly hosting fee a fee for a SSL certificate – these should come up to the $500 per year. With all Hopping Mad Ecommerce platforms we offer a complete and very secure hosting solution.

ECOMMERCE WEB DESIGN PRICES – a historical perspective.

Historical Perspective: How Much Should a Web Site Cost?
Like many electronic and tech based products the costs, involved with designing and developing these have come down over time. The following chart gives you a great look at how costs have reduced for ecommerce web design over the past 15 years.

1995 – 1997 $17,500 to $22,000
1998 – 2000 $14,000 to $20,000
2000 – 2004 $10,500 to $14,500
2004 – 2013 $8,000 to $12,500

As you can see the costs have come down considerably for the average ecommerce site. We feel that the reason for this drop is based on two factors. Firstly, there are just so many web designers in the market and secondly software upgrades and modern tools make the design and development process easier.

The issue with the web market place being so competitive is that this has forced down the prices. Businesses are now finding that they are able to bargain the price down to a point where website studios are just recouping their costs. This has created a ‘bottom feeder’ market dominated by cheap and cheerful web design studios undercutting the more established designers. At the end of the day this will not last forever as businesses are waking up to the fact that you get what you pay for and are now willing to spend more to get a better ecommerce web solution. Basically, if you think that you can succeed online by cutting corners and looking for the cheapest quote then you are only doing yourself a disservice.

WHY USE HOPPING MAD DESIGNS?

The answer to this is simple; WE ARE AWESOME AT ECOMMERCE PROJECTS.
We have a talented pool of very creative designers and developers who LOVE these types of projects.

So if you have a product to sell online and want to get an ecommerce website then give us a call on 02 9360 8514 for a free no-obligation chat.

HOW TO CHOOSE A WEB DESIGNER IN SYDNEY

If you think for one minute that you can get away with employing a web design company that offers cheap web design packages then you are putting your business ain the hand of a bunch of amateurs and risk failure.

Finding the right web designer to handle your website design project is not as easy as it would seem, so following are a few questions you should be asking yourself before making a commitment and signing that web contract.

Does their website look professional?

This might seem like a no brainer but a web designers’ website will give you a clear idea of the future type of work you are likely to get. I have seem some sites by web designers that look absolutely disgraceful and I have also seen some website design, that have that professional edge – knwowing the difference between the two is essential when is comes to choosing your designer.

This is the first test of the type of company you should go with. If their own site looks unprofessional, cheap and budget focused then chances are your website will go down this path. In today’s competitive online world this is very dangerous as your site MUST BE BETTER than your competitors. Go the extra mile and get the site handled by a web design team who is capable of delivering a superior online product for your business. Going with an agency purly based on price is a real disaster waiting to happen. Why? Cause I see the outcomes of this all the time by businesses who have tried to save a few dollars on the web design process.

Do you like their portfolio of work?

Looking at a web designers past work is a great way to see who you will be dealing with. It is a glimpse into their past and will highlight their work ethic and skill set. If you like what you see, then that’s a great sign.

If nothing wows or excites you, then it’s time to move on. Look at websites that are in a similar industry to yours and look at the way that the creative visuals were carried. Taking the time now to do the necessary explorative research on your web designer will save you any chance of being overly disappointed later on.

Will they lock you into a CMS Platform?

Many web companies will not tell you that they are locking you into their proprietary content management system platform. Be sure to find out if your CMS platform, is open source or proprietary. This WILL save you big hassles later on, when issues such as web amends and hosting come up. try to go with an open source platforms like: WordPress, Joomla or Magento. Please never be fooled into signing up to a web contract where you have to pay a monthly fee for the content management system – it's a massive rip off!

Would you trust them?

Ask them difficult questions. After all, you are trusting them with your business – A few good questions are:

– will any of this work be out sourced or off shored OR is it all done in house?

– are there any hidden fees or extras that I need to know about?

– can you provide me with a list of past clients that I can talk to about your work

– can you rank my website on Google? If you found your web designer online ask them about their own Google rankings – after all they SHOULD be able to rank their own website. SEO and web design are the 2 key elements that are going to help your business grow – so be really on top of this point and don't settle for anything other than the best. That is a company with a solid background in both web and SEO.

– what CMS platform will my website be designed on and are there any monthly fees associated with this?

– how many rounds of changes do they allow for each stage of the web process?

– who owns the intellectual property – images, copy, graphics, web files etc etc

Do the web designers have the necessary capabilities?

It is so important that your web designer is able to handle and produce on your sites main objectives.

If for example you are after a sales focused and conversion driven website, you need to align yourself with a designer that can show you past websites that they have been able to achieve great results for. Did the site have a positive return on investment?

Also, if your web platform requires the implementation of a more in depth and complicated design style or development process such as responsive or mobile phone web design, then make sure that your web developer is able to facilitate this, backed up fully by past results, that you can see.

Over the phone promises just don’t cut it any more. There must be actual proof backed up by facts.

Choosing the right web designer might be a demanding procedure, but the following above points should help you out and help you make the right decision for your business.

Be sure to have a chat with an experienced web designer at Hopping Mad Designs – call 02 9360 8514.

Importance of a professionally designed logo

Your business brand has to exude a certain personality and it must raise an emotion out of the person; whether good or bad.

It should be strong and be able to stand on its own and above all be memorable. A logo designed today should be able to stand the test of time and last throughout the life of your business.

If your logo has been professionally handled it should be something that you can be proud of; an identity that you are happy to associate yourself with and one that reflects you and your business. Because your logo will have more exposure, due to the fact that it will be on your website, you need it to send a clear message to your customers that you are a serious player in business and that you are concerned about your image and the way that you are perceived online. Forbes elaborates on this by telling us a logo is not just about what it looks like but also how it attracts attention from current and potential consumers

The logo for your businesses website needs to speak to many various audiences and must therefore be well thought through before putting pen to paper. A clear understanding of your market, digital strategy, and business must be discussed so no stones are left unturned. Satisfying one market is not good enough. You need to look at all demographics and all the markets where your site will be promoted and design a logo accordingly to these parameters.

Professionally designed logos engender trust and in turn, will promote customer loyalty. Basically, if you look at the part then people will notice this and appreciate the effort you have gone to. Logos that have been designed on the cheap will be spotted immediately and the consequences for your brand will not be good for you now and in the future. It just makes all the difference if you spend that bit more and get a professional graphic design studio to work on your brand. Only a graphic or web designer will be able to get a clear and undiluted brief from you when it comes to getting the right information out of you. You will need to develop a strong relationship with your designer if you are going to get the best design work out of them.

Following are some points to consider when exploring logo design options for your brand.

– What is your company’s ultimate goal? Where do you want to be in the long term
– Who and where is your target audience?
– Is the brand a product that needs promotion?
– What emotive response do you want the logo to produce?
– What do your competitor’s logos look like?
– Should we be aware of any specific industry-related colours?
– Does your web logo need to be clever, humorous, or just to the point?
– Is there a deadline?
– Would you prefer the logo to be typographical or more illustrative?
– What geo-specific area will you be targeting? Will the logo have an Australian tone?
– Are there any cultural sensitivities that should be known in advance?
– Do you require a style guide?
– Where will the brand be applied to?
– Are you able to provide examples of other logos that you like and can you provide any logos that you absolutely hate.

Getting a thorough perspective on the above questions will make the design process a whole lot easier. More often than not design can go off track, but just by asking these few easy questions will end up saving you so much time and money.

Look at the world’s most popular logos. Coca Cola, Google, Mercedes Benz and finally Nike. They have lasted for years and years because all the hard work and effort was done upfront. Each logo is known for a certain point of difference; Coke for the red type, Nike for the swoosh, Google for the child-like font and colours and Mercedes Benz for its simplicity. As a business owner, you too want to be recognised for something. A certain spark that says you are different to your competition and if you end up working with a company like Hopping Mad Designs for your logo design, you just may end up getting that special design element that eludes so many companies.

Although your business is not the size of Coca Cola the point I’m trying to make here is how important logo design is for your website, branding and customer base. Do it right and you’ll be able to position yourself as a market leader.

Professional Logo Design Company

Don’t cut corners when it comes to your companies branding, marketing collateral, social media and especially web design. Your logo deserves a lot better than a $99 Make-Your-Own-Logo website package. Going down this path is a recipe for business disaster. Try to work with a design agency that also has a strong background in brand development. Having the whole package designed under one roof will keep branding consistent and keep the creative juices all under one design house.

Tips to help you increase your newsletter conversion rates

Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with customers keeping your business front and centre.

Following are some great tips to help increase those conversion rates for your online newsletters.

Segment your users

Those people that joined based on the newsletter sign up should be dealt with differently from those that joined your newsletter sign up through a checklist at the end of a form. Those people that have actively wanted to join your newsletter and much more likely to be engaged with your company ( and thereby convert to a customer) than those who had not clicked the ‘ non subscribe’ box at the end of a quote or form they have received from you. These people should have more targeted newsletters, perhaps with a more sales-driven slant. Perhaps offer them incentives and giveaways as an encouragement to buy from you.

Be sure to make the newsletter box sign up area as prominent as you can without being ‘ too in your face’

It can be above the fold on the home page, but if you are crammed for space then the footer area is just fine. Pop-ups are OK, if you are into that kind of thing, but be prepared to take it down if you are not getting the sign up numbers.

Ensure that users know what they are going to be receiving in every newsletter

This will tempt them, even more, to sign up and they may actually be looking forward to receiving it (which is an added bonus). If this newsletter is GEO targeted, then it is probably a good idea to localise it. What this means, is like with Hopping Mad Designs we would say ‘ sign up to receive information on graphic and website design in Sydney’, where the area is customised depending on the location of the user. Make this headline-grabbing without adding too much text into the heading. Simplicity is the key here.

Keep fields to a maximum of two

Newsletter form completion is a real pain, so make this as easy and simple as you can. A name and email address are all you need. Once they become a client, obviously you can then get more details from them. Getting too much personal information upfront can seem somewhat obtrusive and an invasion of their privacy… a total turn off. Canva explains this in detail in their article 10 highly-effective trends in newsletter signup form design. They even go on to say that Minimalism is a big trend in the current design, and that includes sign up pages. So you have to make the signup process for a newsletter simple, easy and as pain and hassle-free as possible.

Also Read: You MUST Construct Landing Pages that Convert

Give them something for their trouble for signing up

In Hopping Mad’s case we would offer something like; ‘sign up for a free web design consultation’. This is a great incentive offer, and most people looking for more marketing information and advice will be keen to sign up for this. You never want to cheapen your offering with too many give away’s but this tactic works only if you are able to follow up on this.

Make sure that your newsletter sign up box is designed properly

This will encourage users to signup and in turn, your subscription numbers should increase. Never have flashing lights or moving images – rather keep it stylish and simple. After all, you just want them to commit to signing up.

HOW NOT TO RUN A FACEBOOK PROMOTION

One small minor incident resulted in an online backlash, which resulted in diminishing the value of the airlines brand and giving consumers an outlet to vent their frustration.

This airline is not the only company who has failed to manage their social media. Facebook is immediate and can spell disaster for companies that do not manage their Facebook campaigns.

Important to note – never forget to respond to customer complaints asap.

Check your Facebook wall for comments, good or bad. If they are good then get back to people with appreciation and gratitude and perhaps a free offering. If bad, then address this immediately. Do everything possible to turn this around as one negative comment on a Facebook page can do severe damage. All customers will appreciate your engagement and by doing this you are building great customer relations.

Never…break contest guidelines
Facebook competitions are a super way to bring followers on board and build your brand. Be certain to have a thorough knowledge of State and Federal laws when it comes to running contests and competitions. This way if there is a complaint you are fully covered.
A point to note is that contests requesting submissions or votes through likes or comments, are banned and are not to be part of your marketing efforts – in other words leave it out. Above all be ethical and fair. It is your competition so try to be as neutral as possible when it comes to awarding a winner.

Be selective with your posts.
As tempting as it may be to publish as many posts as you can, the aim on Facebook is to publish quality content rather than quantity. Your followers will appreciate and in some cases anticipate your postings if they are worth waiting for. Publishing juicy content will drive awareness to your brand or product and keep you in the good books with your followers. Over posting will be perceived as spammy and you will pay the price.

Don’t…try to get as many followers as possible.
People that having as many followers as possible is good look as well as good for your search engine rankings. In both cases this is false. Having 5000 friends form India will dilute your brand and will have absolutely zero affect on your SEO. There are companies that can get you as many followers as you want, but this has absolutely no benefit as these people are not interested in you or your brand. Try to get legitimate, loyal followers

Google Panda attacks again – what you need to do

The Google Panda update has been designed to help improve the search engine rankings of websites that have better quality content and on the other hand to penalise sites that have meaningless, spam-like web copy.

We refer to the Panda update as an attack. You can compare a Panda bear attacking you and a Google Panda attacking your website ranking.

The attack happens because companies will often use SEO companies that try to fool the algorithm and employ SEO tactics that are outside the search guidelines. Eventually, this catches up with them and they become part of this panda attack.

How do you know if you have been the subject of a Google Panda attack?

– Check your rankings and if they have dropped a few pages or disappeared altogether then you have incurred the wrath of the dreaded Panda.
– Audit your site and make sure that there are no duplicate pages and that each page on your site has unique content. This is an important step as you may have accidentally loaded content to your site that was on another or old site.

Search Engine Journal has a great article regarding the Google Panda penalty which you can read here. Wikipedia also has some useful information about the Google Panda Update which is worth a read.

What Do You Do Now?

Following are a few points to help you improve the quality of content on your website and this, in turn, should help you get out from the Panda attack or Panda penalty.

Work on improving upon slim content

A lot of websites will have images only on the home page. Sure images look great and they are impressive, but look at adding original copy or content describing those images. If, for example, you are an architect why not have 2 or 3 case studies on the home page with great copy describing actually what you did for the project. This will have the effect of providing useful information to someone visiting your site and help the search engines when indexing your site. Remember to make the content unique. Also continually look at updating content on your website and this includes old blogs ( which I am doing right now almost 10 years after originally posting this blog) with new links, images and more relevant copy. Outdated blogs provide no benefit to users so keeping them fresh with new copy and including your services, staff and contact details updated is a good way to stay ahead of Panda. I want to point out here that the worst thing you can do if your feel too stressed about writing copy is to buy blogs or copy online. There are lots of people selling content but they scrape this off the internet and republish this as their own which they sell to you. Obtaining content this way has so many negatives including duplicate content which is in strict violation of Panda. The rule here is to write the content yourself and make certain it’s unique.

Also read: 10 Content Marketing Predictions for 2022

In so far as design is concerned, there are ways you can integrate this copy into the design without ever compromising on the site’s overall appeal. Speak to your web designer about this. Most web design studios should be able to advise you on this.

Add new and fascinating content will radically help you

Ask yourself this question; when was the last time that I added content to my website? If the answer is, I can’t remember, then you really need to take action and take it fast. Think about adding a blog to your site and adding an interesting article every other week. This will keep the search engines satisfied and keep you out of the crosshairs of the Panda update. Make sure the blog articles are well written and posted online regularly. Blog posting is great for business and lifting your online profile as a source of information.

Now start linking

Google’s spiders are always on the lookout for new pages. Having an external link pointing to your new content is a sure way to get noticed and help your article as well as a website with SEO rankings. Getting links that point to this new content is not easy but a good starting place is on your social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. A great way to promote your site legitimately is to have a link point to your blog from another external blog.

More SEO points related to Panda

The Panda is a complex beast. In terms of SEO, it has changed the landscape forever, which I personally feel has been positive. It has rewarded companies like hopping mad designs who spend hours upon hours writing quality content on our blogs. We play by the rules and this is why we are ranking online. Panda has eliminated all the dodgy SEO companies, who in the past, could rank sites easily.

My main tip to anyone reading this is to speak with an SEO professional and get advice if you feel that you are the subject of a Panda attack. These people will be able to diagnose the issues and fix them so they won’t occur in the near future.

Duplicate Content is Killing your Online Marketing

Duplicate as well as poorly worded content or web copy is a ranking buster on Google.

If you have suddenly noticed your rankings slide you might just have a duplicate copy and this can be verified in your Google Webmaster Tools account.

Following are some interesting questions that you should be asking your web developers or web copywriters if you feel that you have duplicate content.

Has the article been professionally written?

This has now become one of THE MOST important factors when considering an SEO campaign. Search Engine Journal has a great article titled Content As A Google Ranking Factor: What You Need To Know, that goes into a more detailed explanation of why content is so important as a ranking factor.

If you are a vet in Brisbane, then you need to have a landing page about your services that has been professionally written. Putting a picture of a dog or cat on this page with a phone number is not going to cut it anymore. The reason being is that browsers want to land on a web page and find the content they are looking for immediately. If they don’t they will simply leave and bounce off that page. Known as Bounce Rates Google can detect an unusually high bounce rate for a website and this may impact rankings. With this in mind, your web copy must be specific and enticing as well as sticky. Keep them on the page for as long as possible which is an art and technical skill that only a copywriter and experienced web design team can implement.

Your main web pages, if they are going to rank on Google need unique well worded copy that is particular and very specific to your business or product. Things are tightening up so much with the search engines that you now need to have a full-time copy expert onboard monitoring what is written about your company, what is written on your website as well as the social media side of things. Obviously, this is for larger companies with deeper pockets for their marketing budget. Smaller businesses will have to look at either writing their own content or hiring a freelance copywriter.

If you are wondering why Google won’t rank websites with duplicate copy, the answer is simple; why would Google rank sites that have nothing new or informative to say? If it’s already published and online then it’s done and dusted. Google has sophisticated algorithms that can detect poorly worded websites or sites with duplicate copy and their Panda algorithm rollout was designed to pick up this exact type of activity.

Also Read: Google Panda attacks again – what you need to do

10 Content Marketing Predictions for 2022

Is the article original?

No point whatsoever in having a website built if the content just doesn’t work. You need to spend as much time on the copy as on the design if you are going to have a successful website and online campaign. Google will pick up on anything suspect and you will be paying for this transgression very quickly. The smarter operators have caught on to this and have either had their web copy rewritten or a have had a new site redesigned. Be careful and check if your copy has been duplicated by another company. There are content checkers online. All you need to do is copy and paste your URL into this search and it will list sites that have copied your content. Getting them to take this down is another story.

Did you buy the content online?

Many so-called copywriters will try to sell you the same article that they have already sold to other people. This is a killer for your search engine rankings as you are merely republishing copy that is already on another website. You may want to use this helpful tool to see if your copy is duplicated from Copyscape. Plagiarised, content even if it has been marginally altered to try to trick the search engines and fabricate blog authority will soon be picked up by Google. See what Semrush has to say in their blog Checking for Plagiarism in Google Docs.

Is the content waffle or does it actually relate to something?

Many companies will post content online just so it will be indexed and ranked. A good question to be asking is; how does this article read? The tip, in this case, is to read it out loud and if it sounds natural then it’s going to work. If it sounds as though it has been manufactured for search, then it may rank but it also may get penalised if there are too many repetitive keywords. This will make it look like you are trying to spam the system.
If you are getting the article written by a professional then make sure they do it and that it is not offshored to some random copy team. This is often the case and this is where issues arise as these guys tend to recycle articles. You DO NOT want to go down this path.

5 PPC Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Campaign

PPC is a quick and effective marketing strategy to get you on Google’s page 1 and in front of your customers.

However, it’s super-expensive and you don’t want to go blowing your PPC or Pay Per Click. The following 5 rules are a quick guide to not wasting your valuable marketing dollars and handing them over to Google.

1. Implementing a PPC Campaign When Your Web site Is Not Converting Users

The very first mistake that PPC campaigns often make is having a poorly designed website. What is the point of spending all that money on Google if your website looks substandard? Sure people are going to land on your site, but as soon as they do they will leave it.

Each PPC campaign should have its own designated landing page that relates directly to the campaign. These pages have got to look amazing otherwise they will not convert. If you are a graphic design company and you have a PPC campaign for the word graphic design, then the landing page for this particular campaign must look absolutely stunning.

HubSpot has created a great article called The Ultimate Guide to PPC Marketing, where you can learn more about your PPC campaign and how to optimise it.

2. Targeting As Many Broad Keywords as Possible.

For example, a business that sells Tennis rackets online should target phrases like; ‘buy tennis rackets online’, rather than just the words ‘tennis rackets’. This would spread the budget a lot further and drive traffic for real buyers who are in the market for making a purchase. If you would focus on just tennis rackets you would be getting a whole heap of clicks but not genuine buyers. You want conversions – not inquiries.

3. Ignoring Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are a great way to save you money and are often overlooked by businesses in many PPC campaigns. Negative keywords, if you are unfamiliar with these are words that will prevent your ad from showing up if they have been applied. For example, if you are an electrician in Melbourne, then you would have negative keywords like Sydney, Brisbane or Adelaide as you do not want your ad to appear when users type in ‘electricians Sydney’ as you do not service this area. Negative keywords help your PPC campaign really focus on areas of the business that you want to promote.

As a web design and SEO company, we have negative keywords like: ‘courses’ or ‘cheap’ as we do not want our PPC ads to appear when users type in ‘web design courses’, or ‘cheap SEO’.

4. Check your Analytics

Testing daily is the benchmark for any successful PPC campaign. Login to your Google Analytics and check site traffic for your PPC keywords. If they are low then perhaps look at another keyword or a variation of them. Have a look at your ad as well. Does it encourage browsers to click or does it look like all the other ads above and below it? Have a special offering in the ad, like’ Valentines Day Special’ or ‘ Call for a free quote’. It’s these small simple, minor adjustments that will encourage people to your ad. Also, make sure that the display URL and the landing page URL are the same. Remember to be as relevant as possible when it comes to users clicking on your ad and then going to a specific page. Like us, if you promote a PPC campaign for ‘ web design’ then the landing page should be web-focused and nothing else. These small tips will help boost traffic numbers and you will be able to monitor the effects of this through your analytics. If things do not improve then look at adjusting your ads and keywords even further. It’s basically trial and error till you get it right.

5. Use Google Match Phrases

Use a combination of matches as this is a great way to get more bang for your buck. Google offers 3 options:

exact match which would be ‘web design’
broad match which would have a phrase with any combination of the words ‘web design’ in any order – e.g ‘cool web companies that offer design’
phrase match which would have any phrase with the words web design e.g ‘funky web design’

PPC campaigns are a great way to drive more business and traffic to your website. Be careful about your approach to this as it can become very expensive if you are not fully on top of the whole process.

It’s a good idea to speak with someone who knows PPC inside out and get them to perhaps manage the campaign for you. They will obviously charge you a fee for this and it’s generally around the 10% mark but it’s better than blowing your entire budget on wasted clicks.

The Importance of Local SEO

Local SEO checklist for your business.

If you want your business to have a higher local profile on Google, then the following are some great tips for better local SEO rankings.

According to the National Retail Association in their article, New insights reveal Aussies prefer shopping locally, you can see the importance of local SEO and how it can dramatically improve your bottom line, especially if you offer a professional service or are a tradesperson.

1. Become active in your online local community.

Do your homework, look for websites or blogs in your local area, and start engaging with them. Become involved, and offer advice in your related field or area. If people see that you are genuinely interested in the local community, they will be more likely to engage your services when the need arises. The search engines will pick up on this and rank your site higher for local SEO searches. This is conditional if you include links to your website be sure not to overlink or try to spam the system. This will be detected and will not benefit your local SEO marketing. Search Engine Digest has a very good read titled 10 link-building techniques that are harmful to your SEO that will go over the importance of proper link-building techniques.

2. Prioritise your contact information

Pepper your website pages with your local contact details. Making sure that these are easy to find will allow easy access to your contact details and trigger the search engines when indexing your content. Large phone numbers concerning Google maps are a great start for your contact us page.

Also, sign up to Google My Business and register your business. This may take a few weeks to get you verified but will work well for you in the long run.

For example, if you are a plumber in North Sydney, your website should appear in Google Maps when users key in these words in the search. Similar to the way Yellow Pages used to work, but heaps more powerful.

inline_483_https://hoppingmad.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Google-My-Business-hopping-mad-designs.jpg — **Creating a Google My Business profile as we have done for Hopping Mad Designs is a must.**

3. Make sure you do your research

Entering your main search phrases or keywords into the Google search and checking this with what is displayed is a great way to work out what works and what doesn’t. There is no point in implementing a local SEO campaign for words that are not high on the search. If you are unclear about this part, you should speak with a Local SEO professional to help you get a clearer understanding of this.

4. Look at Local Directories

Location directories can pay huge dividends for your local SEO marketing campaign. Think about adding your business name and website to some local directories and see the results. You may just get a surprise.

People like to support the local traders; if you are not there, you may miss out.

5. A Google map on your website is a must.

This has the double benefit of letting Google know where you are and making it nice and easy for clients to print the map out and find you. If they are using handheld devices, they can easily find you on the go. If you do not have a map on your site, you are making it much harder for people to get in touch with you. In their article, How to improve your local ranking on Google, Google has more on this topic.

6. Social Media is Awesome for Local SEO.

Become active on all the big social media platforms ( Facebook, Instagram and Google+).

Social media marketing is an awesome method to target local businesses and people. Plus, it is a vital component in enhancing your local SEO campaign.

A great tool is Facebook because it has Google Maps integration, which allows your customers and clients to get directions to your business. You can build on your local SEO campaign by bringing these two together.

Don’t forget about Google+ as it has this feature as well.

Not only can customers find you easier, but it has the added advantage of triggering signals to the search engines giving a MASSIVE boost to your local SEO profile!

7. Target local suburbs

A great way to dominate local search is to create separate landing pages for various suburbs. You can’t target the whole of Sydney but look at key important suburbs where your customers are located and create new pages for this. A key point to note here is that each page should have unique content and never duplicate each local suburban page and create hundreds of suburban pages with the same content. Implement this slowly and wait to see the results before you publish the next suburban page.

Boosting your local SEO value is easy if you follow these steps. Again, if you are unsure about any of these Local SEO tips, it might be a wise idea to speak with some SEO Companies in your local area who do this all the time.

If your business is in Sydney and you want to reach out to more customers online, then why not call us here at Hopping Mad Designs on 02 9360 8514.