In this newsletter, we’re addressing all the recent changes that have been going on in the SEO world.

EOM Newsletter April 2012

We recently posted an article about the importance of relevance for SEO.

Here is an infographic that explains how content, and relevance has become increasingly important in Google’s eyes and how it has updated it’s search algorithm to return results that are focused on relevant content, rather than overly SEO’d website.

Thank you to Search Engine Land, which allowed us to re-publish this infographic. The original infographic was published here.

EOM Newsletter March 2012

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.

Special Offer

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.

Contact us today to claim this special offer for your business.

There is one core principle for SEO, or any search really, that tops any technical mumbo jumbo.

This principle is RELEVANCE.

The aim for Google, and most other search engines, is to display the results that are most relevant to the key terms that users typed in. In fact, Google has recently made an announcement that overly SEO’d websites would be dropped in the rankings, in favour of more relevant websites.

Now, how does a search engine determine whether a website is relevant for a searcher? Here are some ideas (in no particular order).

Content

Search engine bots can ‘read’ the content of your website and they can determine whether or not it is relevant to the search term. For example it will look for the search term, or a similar term, to be mentioned in your content. However, it will also look at whether you mention these keywords too often – in that case it would be determined to be overly SEOd.

Time spent on site

The search engines can monitor how long someone spends on your website – especially if you use tools such as Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools that feed the information straight back to the big Google engine. The longer someone spends on your site, and the more pages they look at, the more relevant your website is deemed for the user.

Social Signs

Social signs are becoming increasingly more important in search engine algorithms because they determine how relevant the content is to people. If the content is important to people and their networks, than today’s active internet users are likely to share it on social sites such as Twitter, Facbeook, and social bookmarking sites. Most social sites also have the ability to give content the thumbs up or thumbs down site, which gives a direct indication of whether the content is useful for others or not.

Links

Links have always been at the core of SEO, determining whether a website is important to other websites. Every link to your website indicates that someone else thinks it’s worth linking to. While links remain important and indicate some relevance of your website, other signs (especially social signs) are also being considered. Be careful: Too many links to your website, and especially links that have been bought or come from a source this is untrustworthy in the search engine’s eyes indicate an overly SEO’d site and may be dropped from search engine rankings.

These are only some aspects that indicate how relevant and important your website is to others.

What You Can Do

Our one tip to increase the relevancy of your website is this: Write great content and encourage sharing.

Share your experience in the comments section below.

The Eminent Online Marketing internet marketing newsletter for November 2011 is now available. In this issue we focus on Google Plus.

You’ll find:

• an introduction to Google Plus
• Google Plus opportunities and how you can take advantage of them
• The difference between Google Plus Profiles and Google Plus Pages
• 4 Ways to get more from your Google Plus marketing
• Why Google Plus is important for SEO

Enjoy reading, and as always, please feel free to share this newsletter!

Internet Marketing Newsletter November 2011

On 30th november 2011, Yelp, a global business directory launched in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. According to Smart Company, Yelp will partner with Sensis to generate the basic business listings. We highly recommend that business owners claim their listings to optimise them for better exposure.

What makes Yelp different is that it has built a community where people can connect and socialise online, but at the same time look for local businesses. Of course the site includes rating, review and recommendation functions.

Why Should You Add Your Website To Yelp?

There are many free online business directories out there, but Yelp is one you don’t want to miss. Its success in North America and Europe has shown that the combination of business directory and social network attracts millions of visitors every month. Although there is no big launch or marketing campaign planned in Australia, we can predict additional exposure for any business that is listed on Yelp.

How Do I Add My Listing To Yelp?

1. Go to https://www.biz.yelp.com.au
2. Click Create Your Free Account
3. Search for your business name and location to see whether there is any existing data on your business (for example drawn from Sensis)
4. Claim the existing listing or add a new listing

What Type Of Information Should I Add To My Yelp Listing?

You want to include all relevant business information, such as

• your address
• a short description
• relevant keywords that describe your business
• any pictures or videos you have about your business
• and a link to your website if you have one

Does a Yelp Listing Help My SEO?

Most incoming links to your website will help your SEO. However the main benefit from Yelp will come from visitors to your website, additional exposure for your business, and the chance for your customers to interact with one another and post comments and reviews.

Does the Yelp Listing Connect To My Google Places Listing?

There has been an animosity between Google Places and Yelp, therefore these two are not likely to exchange data in the near future. Yelp partnering with Sensis in Australia shows its alliance and recent media reports in the states indicate the ongoing quarrels between Yelp and Google Places.

More About Yelp

Businesses of any size can create a free listing on Yelp, as long as they are located in Sydney or Melbourne. Yelp also offers the option of paid advertising for increased exposure.

Started in the US in 2004, Yelp now has over 54 million unique visitors per month. Until now it operated in several countries in North America, as well as the UK and Europe, and launched its first foray into Australia on 30th November 2011.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a great way to market your website and increase your exposure online. Basically SEO is the adjustment of a website so that it shows highly in the search results for a certain query.

Here are 5 search engine optimisation tips that can be used by beginners as well

Research

Before you start your DIY SEO campaign, you should think of the keywords your target audience is most likely to use. When choosing the right keyword, a little bit of research is in order. Tools like the Google Keyword Tool help you determine which keywords get a lot of traffic and how much competition they have. Ideally you will find a keyword that is highly relevant to your offering, has a medium to high amount of traffic and relatively low amount of competition. More advanced SEOs can also go for keywords with higher competition.

On-page optimisation

On-page optimisation means you make changes to your website itself. In particular, you want to add the keywords you have identified above in the title tag and description tag of your website. You can also add the keyword to the keyword tag on your website, although this is generally deemed less important.

Content

The content on your website should be directly related to the keyword you’re trying to rank for. Therefore the keyword should appear in the text on your website, especially in the headline, and maybe in the sub-headline. You can also add it to the first and last paragraphs of your website text. But you need to be careful not to use the keyword too often. Generally 2% is considered maximum (therefore you would be allowed to use the keyword twice in a 100 word text).

Images

When you use images you can add keywords to the description and alt tags of your images. This contributes to your on-page optimisation and compliments the SEO content you have already written.

Links

Finally you want to start building links to your website. You can start by simply bookmarking your website with services such as Digg or Delicious. Then you can add links to your website from social networking profiles, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Another easy one of our search engine optimisation tips is to start building links to your website is to add your website and business to local online directories, such as Dmoz, Yahoo Directory, Yelp,etc.

Oops, we’ve been sharing the newsletter on Facebook, Twitter, Scribd and LinkedIn, but the one place we forgot to post it was on our own blog!

Well, here you go, it’s the October 2011 edition of the EOM internet marketing newsletter. It includes articles on how to build your profile online, a link to our Youtube channel and an introduction to all of our team members!

Internet Marketing Newsletter October 2011