The top 10 Google Adwords clients spent a total of 44 million dollars between them for the month of June 2010. That’s close enough to $150,000 per advertiser per day.

Topping the top 10 list with a US$8 million spend was AT&T Mobility the US mobile phone giant. Bringing up the rear at number 10 was the global security system company ADT Security at US$2 million.

These figures are the norm for the regular top 10 Google spenders except for one. June 2010 was the peak of the BP oil spill crisis in the US. BP usually spend around US$50,000 to $60,000 per month on Google adwords. June 2010 however saw them throw a whopping US$3.59 million on adwords aimed at a PR campaign to put a spin on the horrific and long term damage caused by their oil spill.

Google Adwords are a powerful medium used by a myriad of advertisers to achieve an immeasurable list of goals both in sales and public relations. If the top 10 companies can spend US$44 million in one month one has to wonder the return to those companies on that investment. Given that these global giants have access to some of the best accountants and business analysts in the world it stands to reason that a smart Google Adwords campaign can reap good financial rewards.

No BS SEO has for some time endorsed and promoted what we believe to be the BEST adwords software in the world. Market Samurai was developed by some of Australia’s brightest and most innovative programmers right here in sunny downtown Melbourne. It has sold 100’s of thousands of copies world- wide and even has a free trial period so you can test drive it at no risk.

How often do you go to a website and sit there waiting for it to display on your screen? And waiting and waiting and waiting……….

Chances are that website is either;

1. Badly designed
2. Is hosted on an inferior or overloaded server
3. Has photos which use up way too much ram
4. Has some arty farty flash presentation which needs too much time to load

S..L..O..W loading websites are bad for business, period. Whilst your website may be important to you, a new visitor coming to your website looking for your goods or services probably found you on Google along with a number of your competitors  websites offering similar or identical products and services. Now if you believe that prospective customers will actually sit there and wait for your site to load rather than click the “<” back button and go on to the next website you are sadly mistaken. The internet is all about speed and convenience and slow websites are not the flavor of the day.

Another serious issue to consider is Google’s recent announcement that having a slow website can impact on your website’s Google ranking. This isn’t a threat, it’s simply Google announcing that “fast is good” and that fast websites give Google users a better search experience. The above link will also point you towards Google webmaster tools to help you assess and fix your website but in my experience most business owners will leave this to their web designers. My suggestion is that you talk to your web host first. The company which hosts your website will often give you a much clearer picture of the problem because they didn’t design your website and therefore won’t be too embarrassed to admit that they “stuffed up”. If in fact you have opted for their “bottom self”, “el cheapo”, 10 cents a day hosting plans then you may well heed their advice to upgrade to a better / faster hosting plan.

“Of the 9 million+ Australians using the internet every day over half of them are looking for a product or service in their local area. It is a very safe assumption that a percentage of these people will use EMAIL to contact the business(s) of their choice. You as a business person owe it to yourself, the customer and your staff to make every effort to receive each and every legitimate email sent to you, period!”

Despite the proliferation of spammers, scammers and idiots online the fact remains that email is one of the most powerful tools available. The biggest problem email has however is that it’s free!

Like most free resources email is subject to abuse by people who are intent on stealing money, misguiding others and of course the idiots who have nothing better to do than find new ways of abusing a free resource.

There are countless providers offering a variety of email products and services to all and sundry. The 5 main Australian email providers are:

• Yahoo (yahoo mail)
• Big Pond
• Optus Net
• MSN (hotmail)
• Google (gmail)

Most businesses who have a website also have an email address(s) attached to that website which is often facilitated by their Internet Service Provider (ISP). These email addresses also identify the website (business) which they belong to (eg. info@exampleptyltd.com.au). The quality of these email servers depends entirely on the integrity of the ISP.

For many years now the biggest problem with email has been SPAM. In most cases spam consists of an unsolicited marketing email usually sent to your email address by someone who has purchased an email list from a bottom dwelling scum-sucker who has “raked” email addresses from the internet. There are many companies around the world who sell these lists to anyone who wants to pay for them and generally they are quite cheap. (Tip: never ever buy an email list. If you want to do an email marketing campaign use a reputable company with a verified opt-in email list or create your own opt-in list).

So, who are the BEST email providers?

Our testing and surveying of Australian businesses has come up with the following email providers from BEST to WORST.

1. Gmail (probably the best most secure & accessible email system on the planet)
2. BIG POND
3. Optus Net
4. Hotmail / MSN
5. Yahoo / Ymail

For those who use Gmail, the number one position is no surprise. Owned by Google and featuring some of the best deliverability and security features imaginable Gmail totally “owns” the number one spot.

Big Pond and Optus, to their credit, have really lifted their game over the last 2 or 3 years. Both of these operators have taken a “zero tolerance” stance on spammers and scammers and they continue to improve their deliverability percentages.

In my opinion Hotmail & Yahoo Mail / YMail are still off with the fairies when it comes to spam / scam / deliverability. Try looking at the source of the last 10 spam or scam emails you have received, especially out of Africa, China or India. Chances are they have a Yahoo or MSN email address.

Of the 9 million+ Australians using the internet every day over half of them are looking for a product or service in their local area. It is a very safe assumption that a percentage of these people will use EMAIL to contact the business(s) of their choice. You as a business person owe it to yourself, the customer and your staff to make every effort to receive each and every legitimate email sent to you, period!

If a customer’s email doesn’t reach you, or your reply to that customer isn’t delivered, chances are you can bid that customer goodbye. Worst still you will probably never know that customer even existed if you didn’t get the original email. That’s why “Deliverability” is important. Yes it does take an good hour to set up a new email provider and customise email folders, signatures etc. So what? It’s your business, your potential customers and your future. Don’t risk a bad email provider.

Google not only performs search. Here are a few other nifty things you can do with Google.

Calculator

Got a maths problem to solve? Just type it into your Google search bar and press search. Eg. 854 x 732 = 625 128

Flight Checker

Want to check up on a Flight? Type in the flight number . Eg. Flight QF 122

World Time

What time is it anywhere in the world? Eg. What time is it London

Currency Converter

Any currency to any currency. Eg. 600 Australian dollars to Euros.

Site Search

Find out how many pages Google has indexed from your website. Eg. Site:nobsseo.com

Google Wonder Wheel

Find extended search terms and meta tags associated with any basic search term. Eg. Website Optimization.

Get Listed On Google Maps & Places

http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&q=get+listed+on+google+maps&aq=f&aqi=g-m3&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=4c7dad4a75f3e80a

What’s your favourite Google trick, tool or time saver?

When I suggest to my clients that they use Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for their business I almost always get the same reply…. “I know I should but I just don’t have the time”.

Being in business myself I totally understand and empathise with that answer but that doesn’t make it right.

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are giants on the internet (especially in Australia) and all three are offering to promote your business online ABSOLUTELY FREE.

WHY?

Because each of these sites also sells advertising and mathematics tells us that the more people that visit a website the more money that website can make. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube want you and your business to create a profile on their sites and even more importantly to create unique content for that profile. The logic is simple. The more variety of content a website displays the more likely it is to have a wider and more numerous amount of visitors. The more visitors a website has the more clicks it will get on its paid advertisements. If you’re in any doubt about the validity of this formula check out Google’s latest profit figures.

Okay, so by now you are either thinking “nahhhhhh is still sounds too hard” or “hang on, maybe I should allocate an hour a day (or night) to do this”. If you have decided to go ahead then know this. It will take at least a month before you see any tangible results for your efforts. The good news is that if you keep at it (and you must) your online exposure increases exponentially. Before you know it people who are interested in your product or service who may never otherwise have heard of you before, are following your Twitter posts, have become friends on your facebook page and are viewing your YouTube videos.

If you search any jobs website today you will find many local and multi-national corporations advertising for Marketing staff. I guarantee you that a working knowledge of social networking is a prerequisite for over 70% of these jobs. Most small businesses can’t afford expensive marketing staff, they do their own marketing. So learn from the big end of town and include social networking in your marketing strategy.

So to coin a phrase “Just Do It”. Yes you will have to make time and yes you will have to put your brain into promotional mode BUT it will pay dividends, I promise.

Twitter Sign Up

Facebook Sign Up

YouTube Sign Up

Footnote:   All these signups are easy but if you need help to set up a professional business profile on Facebook or YouTube just shoot us a note and we will help in any way we can.

Google co-founder Larry Page gave his name to a system which allocates a score between Nothing and Ten to every webpage on the internet. This is known as PageRank and is a very useful measuring tool in determining the online importance and impact of any website / webpage.

When the Google Spider (robot) visits a website it applies one of the most complicated algorithms imaginable to assess the relevance of the content it is scanning. In fact there are over 500 million variables which can be taken into account when the GoogleBot is assessing each page.

So Why Is This Important?

Well let’s say there are 100 websites all competing for the term Blue Widgets. The web pages with the highest PageRank will more than likely appear higher on the organic Google search results than those websites with a lower Page Rank.

How Can I See What The PageRank of a Webpage Is?

The easiest way of seeing the Page Rank of any webpage is to have the Google Tool Bar installed on your browser. Once it is installed click on “Options” then click on “Tools” and enable the Page Rank tool.

Google typically update the visible PageRank of webpages about 4 times a year, although in practice this is an ongoing process throughout the year. What is updated is the PageRank displayed on the PageRank tool. The 2nd PageRank update for 2010 has just occurred, so there should be another one due around the beginning of July.

Always be aware of your website’s PageRank and always look for ways of optimising your website to improve your visibility on Google. Make sure you have submitted your website to Google, Bing and Yahoo via their respective online submission forms.

Flash websites are perhaps the WORST candidates for search engine optimisation. So if you have a flash website you will need professional SEO help to achieve any decent level of organic exposure with Google, Bing or Yahoo.

Often when we search for a product or service on Google our search results will vary to exactly the same search on someone else’s computer.

For instance if I search for A Melbourne Electrician I get an organic result (left hand side of the page, not “sponsored links”) for a No BS SEO client at number 2. Whereas the client himself does the same search and sees his website at number 4. Then I go to another computer with a different IP and I get a different result again with the client at number one.

In this case the results only vary by 2 or 3 positions but in some cases they can vary by 2 or 3 pages.

WHY IS THIS SO?

In the past I have come up with a variety of explanations. All researched, all plausible and all relevant. Today I came across a fantastic YouTube video headed; Google Algorithm Updates by Brad Gosse. Rather than sit here and repeat it for you I suggest you take 4 minutes and click on the YouTube Link (or watch the video on the right). You may also want to view a 2 minute video by very well known Google representative Matt Cutts.

Yes we do have 2 other large search engines in Australia in the form of Yahoo and Bing however the benchmark as far as the success or otherwise of your business online is Google, period! Any SEO company worth its salt bases almost all its efforts on Google indexing. WHY? Simple, get indexed on Google and the others will follow. In my opinion you could concentrate on Yahoo or Bing and miss out on Google and that is something no business can afford to do.

It is no secret that search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing place a great deal of importance on the number of RELEVANT links pointing to your website. This in turn is a major factor in a search engine determining the importance of your website and therefore how high in the search results your website will appear. In other words links are very powerful Internet Tools.

You will notice the word RELEVANT is in caps and there is a very good reason for this. Many people are of the belief that any link is a good link and the more links one has the better their website will rank. Not True.

Search engines use very sophisticated algorithms to determine the relevancy of links pointing back to each individual website. Irrelevant links get a very low if not zero score while relevant links get a very high score. For example if you are a Locksmith and your website is linked to by other websites in the security / alarm / lock categories then those links will be seen as high value links by the search engines and in turn will increase the perceived importance of your website.

There are many ways of getting relevant links to your website. For example, if you are in business ask your suppliers to include a link to your website from their site. The same goes for your customers who may have relevant websites to your industry.

Search out relevant Blogs and Forums. Find those which you can genuinely make a constructive comment on and make sure you include a link to your website. Great care should be taken NOT to spam blogs & forums but rather to use them to contribute useful comments. Remember the people reading your comments will soon realise if you are genuine or just a spammer and will judge you and your business accordingly.

Business directories are also a great source of relevant links but make sure your business is listed under the correct category.

Remember the word RELEVANT and always try to secure these types of links.

Can you believe that just ONE You Tube video was watched over 120 million times during 2009? Another 36 million times and yet another over 33 million times.

You Tube was the 3^rd most popular website visited by Australians in 2009 and guess what? Most businesses DON’T have a presence on it. In fact only 2.7% of businesses have taken the time to upload a video promoting their goods or services on You Tube.

Could it be the cost? Nope, You Tube is FREE.

Maybe it’s too hard to upload a video. Ummm nope again. You Tube signup and uploading is very easy.

Okay so maybe it’s just too hard to shoot a video. Mmmmmm let’s see. You’re smart enough to run a business but you can’t aim & shoot a video camera? Or, you don’t want to invest a small amount and get a pro to do it for you.

So, let’s get down to the REAL reason your business doesn’t have a You Tube presence. “TO-IT” For the vast majority of businesses You Tube is a ‘TO-IT”. In other words it’s something which you will do when you get around to it. Trouble is we all know what happens to projects which are in the “TO-IT” basket. We rarely get around to it and it often never gets done.

So girls and boys here’s your pearl of wisdom to finish off 2009. Dust off your video camera or call a video production company and get a video promoting your business on You Tube. Here’s an extra tip. Include a link to the You Tube page displaying your video on EVERY single email you send in 2010.

Most watched YouTube videos globally

Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent (120+ million views)
David After Dentist (36+ million views)
JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
New Moon Movie Trailer (30+ million views)
Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

Based on Australian IP sourced tracking 1/2/09 to 30/11/09.

1. http://google.com.au/
2. http://www.facebook.com/
3. http://www.youtube.com/
4. http://www.ebay.com.au/
5. http://au.yahoo.com/
6. http://www.twitter.com/
7. http://smh.com.au/
8. http://news.com.au/
9. http://theage.com.au/
10. http://au.gamespot.com/
11. http://whirlpool.net.au/
12. http://www.directory.gov.au/
13. http://www.bom.gov.au/
14. http://wikipedia.org/
15. http://ato.gov.au/
16. http://myspace.com/
17. http://www.bing.com/?cc=au
18. http://www.pokerstars.com/
19. http://realestate.com.au/
20. http://stgeorge.com.au/
21. http://vic.gov.au/
22. http://domain.com.au/
23. http://www.mozilla.com
24. http://anz.com/
25. http://abc.net.au/
26. http://www.nab.com.au/
27. http://westpac.com.au/
28. http://www.microsoft.com
29. http://commbank.com.au/
30. https://www.paypal.com
31. http://nsw.gov.au/
32. http://qantas.com.au/
33. http://tradingpost.com.au/
34. http://bigpond.com/home/
35. http://blogger.com/
36. http://www.alexa.com
37. http://centrelink.gov.au/
38. http://tab.com.au/
39. http://seek.com.au/
40. http://rsvp.com.au/
41. http://qld.gov.au/
42. http://whitepages.com.au/
43. http://overclockers.com.au/
44. http://www.baidu.com/
45. http://dell.com.au/
46. http://usyd.edu.au/
47. http://jobsearch.gov.au/
48. http://drive.com.au/
49. http://auspost.com.au/
50. http://asx.com.au/

SEO consultants are a bit like political lobbyists.

Let me explain.

In a democratic society where the will of the people rules via their elected representatives in government, there really should be NO place for experts in the political process to be paid by special interest groups to get certain policies pushed through the parliament.

The same can be said for SEO consultants. Search engines like Google™, Yahoo™ and Bing™ have a self set mandate to deliver the most relevant results relating to the billion or so searches performed online each and every day. So why do we “need” SEO experts to show us how we can entice these search engines to display one result ahead of another? The answer……. MONEY.

Almost half of online searches using a search engine involve a user searching for a product or service they wish to purchase. In almost all cases there are multiple suppliers providing those products and services so it stands to reason that the supplier who displays higher in the search results will get more customers. Regardless if you are searching for a business which does Dodge Challenger Conversions, or does Glass Washer Service in Melbourne, statistics tell us that as long as the search engine results are relevant you will probably call the business(s) which display higher first.

Search Engine Optimisation consultants are paid to help your business display higher than your competitors on the major search engines. Just like political lobbyists who know who to approach and what to say, SEO consultants (good ones that is) know what you need on your website to make it more search engine friendly than your competitors website.

There is of course a much easier way of appearing on the first page of the major search engines. Sponsored links can have you on page one within hours BUT there is a cost. Pay Per Click advertising (AKA AdWords) allows you to bid an amount of money you are prepared to pay every time someone clicks on your advertisement.

Many businesses rely on Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising to generate their online traffic but one must be careful to maintain an acceptable ROI (return on investment). Again, most SEO consultants can help you with this type of online exposure.

Our new blog is coming soon. Stay tuned for helpful articles and links.