When commenting on a blog, often you’re able to leave your name, email, URL, plus a short comment on the subject matter. But why would you bother? Sure you get a backlink to your website but there’s more to it. You’re creating valuable content off site, and in this sense, Blog Commenting is one of the more valuable activities that you can undertake off page.

Here’s why…

As a blog owner, you would be more than aware that most people use blog comments to simply spam away, create useless comments that serve as nothing more than a way to pass link juice on to their page of choice, and this is what blog commenting is often referenced as. Nothing but spam, however, as someone who comments on other blogs on a daily basis, I can say that the real success factor here is in active participation, sharing of your own knowledge and skills, and the ability to provoke thought.

The bottom line is this. As a blog owner, anything that you create online is content. Every time that you have the opportunity to create content in any way shape or form, you really should be taking that as an opportunity to inform, teach, and inspire thought.

Let’s look at the above example. This is a comment that I deleted from my blog a few weeks ago, and made me laugh a little. Sadly this comment doesn’t really adding anything at all to the conversation and simply serves to generate a backlink. Nothing more. It goes without saying that the success rate of these kinds of comments is extremely low.

On the flip side, if you look at the above example, this is a comment that I recently made on a website that I follow. If you have a look at the structure of that comment, you will see that I made reference to the content, and backed it up with my own thoughts, then continued on to inspire a response from the blog owner themselves by asking an opinion. This is valuable content because:

1. It offers my own insight
2. It inspires thought
3. It gives the blog owner ideas on what to write about next

That is my formula for blog commenting…  You also, need to remember that it is not just about how to comment, but where to comment. Luckily, there is no real secret here. Simply find a handful of blogs within your niche that are related to what it is that you do, and that also receive a good amount of traffic. Don’t be afraid to go more deep than that, as what I am teaching you now is just the foundations.

In summarizing, let me ask you something. Are you one of those people that think that blog commenting is dead? Follow my simple formula and you’ll soon discover it’s not. Blog commenting is not about backlinks, it is about creating content.

PS. You are more than welcome to comment on this post.

Getting a #1 ranking in Google is only a small part of winning the online war, yet it seems to be what most people focus on. The fact is, increasing your conversion rate can often be the easiest way to increase your bottom line.

It’s true all markets are different and often you’ll need to run split tests to find out what converts best for you and your market but here’s a few simple tips to get you started on the right track. Ready to learn more?

Where Are Your Visitors Eyes?

If you knew where the eyes of your visitors were looking, what would you do? I for one, would put your most important sales message in that space. The problem is how do we track where a customer is looking?

Short of doing eye tracking studies on your website, there’s plenty of data showing that  one of the first things that a visitor looks at are the images on that page – typically in the header. This “top left” position is a hot spot on most websites. First, your visitor wants to know where they are, second, they want to know what do to next.

So how can you take advantage of this? Simple… put your most important message in this space.

Effective And Alluring Titles

When I optimise a page headline, I am literally pull myself out of my own mindset, and place myself in the mind of the user and considering what it is they’d be looking for. How can you lead the visitor to take a desired action, such as purchasing a product, or signing up to the mailing list? Consider what it is that your visitor is looking for and how they want to get it. Don’t try to over-inflate titles with too much hype though, no one likes to feel like they’ve been sold.

Just give them what they’re looking for and make it as easy as possible for them. Tell them what they want (as long as it’s true), tell them what it will do for them, then tell them to buy the product. The same applies for every other kind of actions, whether it be an Aweber opt in form, buy an affiliate product, and so on.

Of course, there’s loads of ways to increase your conversion rate but simply addressing what the user is looking for is a great place to start.

Today, let’s talk about a simple search engine optimisation technique. I’ll be discussing how to target the right keywords for your SEO campaign. In his interview with Gideon Shalwick, Dave mentions “SEO is all about making sure that you are targeting the right keywords to come up in the organic search results”.  When you target the right keywords you target the right audience.

A successful SEO campaign starts with good keyword research. People fall into the trap of looking for keywords with the highest search volume thinking that it would bring hordes of traffic to their website. What these people do not realize is that keywords with high search volume also have very high competition.  More competition means investing more time and effort to beat all the other websites competing for the same keyword only to get visitors on your site who are not interested in buying your product at all.

But how would you know if the keywords you are targeting are the keywords your potential customers are typing in the search engines?

One good search engine optimisation technique to follow is to put yourself into the shoes of the searcher. Don’t think like an SEO expert, think like a customer. If you were a person looking to buy your product how would you Google it?

Keyword Research Tips – Browsing vs Buying Keywords

To bring targeted traffic to your website you need to choose keywords that people are using to find products and services similar to yours.  Studies have shown that 40% of searches are done via local based keywords.  To put it simply, people are adding locations to their search queries.  When people add a location to their search they are actually looking for a specific product in a specific location.

For example, if I were a small business owner in Melbourne looking for SEO services for my website what keywords would I use?

a. SEO

b. SEO services

c. SEO services Melbourne

Someone searching for “SEO” can just be looking for information about search engine optimisation. They are probably conducting a research for school or doing a presentation at work about SEO. A person searching for “seo services” is deeper into the search process. They are looking for more specific information.  Now, somebody searching for “seo services Melbourne” is looking for a specific product in a specific location. These people are more likely buyers than researchers.  (And if you answered “c” you are more likely to have a more successful SEO campaign than those who answered “a”).

For more keyword research tips watch this video of our recent search engine optimisation workshop to learn more about the keyword research process. In this video, Dave talks about browsing vs buying keywords and how it would bring targeted traffic to your site.

There’s a lot of craziness surrounding the search industry at the moment, and a lot of it’s caused by Facebook. Will the well known social media platform take Google’s dominate position in online search? And should we (SEOers) be worried? I believe that we should be, but only in part, and I am going to explain to you why.

First, let’s talk about the direction in which Facebook is heading. With the implementation of the “like” button, and other features such as automatic page creation on just about any thing that is likeable, Facebook is not just taking over the internet, but they are becoming their own smaller version of it. Here’s what I mean…

If I add to my profile that I work for Melbourne SEO Services for example, instantly, an optimised page is created on Facebook for that business. This leaves this page open for “liking” and the second that I declare that I work for this company, the promotional rollercoaster starts all on its own. This information is then sent your your friends, appearing your their activity feed. In effect, users now receive up to date recommendations from their friends for products, services and just about anything you can think of.

Now, before you go assuming too much, keep reading!

Now, if we look at what Google does. Google simply delivers the best possible result per query based on their own algorithm. If you search for something, then it will query its own index, and produce the most relevant results, not judged on your friends. There is no “like” button in Google, there is a simple measure of link popularity and other on and off page factors that will deem a website being more relevant for a particular keyword or search query.

Which would you consider more relevant to the user… something a robot services up or recommendations from your friends and family? Are the way of recommendations the way for the future? Should we all give up SEO? Short answer is no. SEO still works and provides a positive ROI… that said, we (as SEOers) should be placing more emphasis social media marketing since there is a change brewing.

At Melbourne SEO Services, we don’t believe in hard and fast rules when it comes to SEO. Truth is, we’ll never know the exact Algorithm that powers the search engines. For this reason we set out to create a method that replicates what happens to popular sites naturally. In essence, Google aims to find the most relevant websites based on popularity (especially with the new Google Caffeine upgrade recently!).

So how do we do it? Well, over the course of the past 7 years we have developed a method we like to call The SEO Method. This is the very method that we use for our own sites, and our clients, and it has proven time and time again to be effective in not only ranking, but dominating in Google.

So what’s the secret? At its center, you’ll find gradual link building key…

Perhaps the easiest way to understand our thinking is to get into character… let’s imagine you were Google for a moment. What would happen if you had to choose between two sites to rank number one for a particular keyword? Imagine that you have one website that has twenty thousand backlinks that have been earned over the course of 1 month. The second site was one that was three years old, had twenty thousand backlinks, all from a variety of sources and built gradually over time. Which website would you consider to be less likely trying to ‘game’ the system?

By employing a gradual link building strategy, you are simply emulating nature rather than building thousands of backlinks all at once for the sake of a quick gain in the search engines. Furthermore, in creating a strong backlink structure, you will need to create one that is diverse, and contains a variety of links from different sources. That’s the secret to link buliding and it’s the difference between a flash in the pan, and evergreen businesses.

It was back in late 2009 when we first received word of the new indexing system by Google, aptly named “Google Caffeine”, which had massive promises of being faster, and much more responsive. Apart from the obvious benefits, it was never really made all that clear as to exactly how this new indexing system would benefit the webmaster.

Upon closer inspection, this update offers a little more than a few polishes and code tweaks. It is a complete revamp of the search engine that we both love and hate, that will both benefit the webmaster, and make their job that little bit more difficult. Ready to learn more? Read on…

First things first, Caffeine (as the name suggests) is much faster than the previous version of Google. With speed improvements recorded of under half the time from the previous version, this fits very much in line with Google’s promise to take page load speeds into consideration when ranking sites. As I understand it, the way that they have done this is by reverting from their old system where the index was arranged in stacks or layers, with some layers being more responsive than others, to a new system which analyzes the entire web one small portion at the time, resulting in faster refresh rate of their index.

What this means for the end user is that the information contained within Google’s new index is much more up to date, with new information added to their index “as it happens”. For the webmaster, this is fantastic news, with some (including myself) reporting pages being added to the index in less than five minutes!

Old Google Index Results

Google Caffeine Index Results

Let’s not forget to talk about the overall size of the index. In some tests, the index seems to show increases in size of, anywhere up to 600% for some keywords (see above images). This is most definitely testament to the fact that Google is now capable of indexing several hundreds of thousands of sites in parallel.

So, keeping all of this in mind, what exactly does this update mean for the common webmaster?

Well apart from the fact that the new updated search engine will deliver your results much faster, this means that your job when it comes to SEO is going to be made just that little harder. As Google Caffeine literally will focus on exactly where the activity is in real time, your ability to dominate is going to rely on your ability to be where the action is, and how much care you take when selecting your keywords and effective titles.

Not to say that backlinks building is going out of fashion, what this means is that in order to build up your brand in the search engines, you are going to need to bring your action to where the action is. So, are the traditional backlink sources that we are used to losing their momentum? In all honesty, Google Caffeine is still young to discover whether or not this is a valid claim, however, you can be sure that we will do some back testing to report on this soon.

An SEO Case Study For Integrated Consulting Solutions

Here’s another case study of some quick SEO results for our client Integrated Consulting Solutions (ICS). In less than a month, they have scored the number one position in both the Google local business listing and the organic search list for the keyword “ISO Consultants Melbourne”.  This is a huge win considering their website didn’t even rank three weeks ago!

Here’s a screenshot of their Google local business listing:

Needless to say, they are very happy with the result and excited about the next level of their SEO campaign.

Watch this video for the full story…

Let’s face it, SEO is a huge undertaking: it’s complex, fast-paced and time consuming, especially when you’re developing a business. It’s hard to keep up to date with exactly what makes a website rank. It’s a lot of work and requires a dedicated presence. It’s what we do, so we can tell you first hand, being an SEO strategist is not just about keeping up to date, it’s about multi-tasking as well. So let’s get down to the raw, burning question here…

How Can An SEO Strategist Help You Develop Your Business?

Let’s divide this up into two separate tasks. The first involves you developing your business, and we’re sure there is no one better suited to develop a concept than you. You know the direction that your business is going, you have your goals to achieve and an ideal income you’d like as well. This task is in itself massively time consuming; one wrong decision can divert you from your path for a very long time.

When it comes to our business, we like to plan ahead. We develop ideas for content, base these around what is winnable in the search engines, then power through the creation of that content, whilst applying our SEO principals. In essence, SEO is part of our business, regardless of whether the concept is virtual or physical. However, we’re sure you would prefer spending more time actually developing your business than learning the complexity of SEO.

Develop An SEO Strategy For Offline Business

It’s a home truth that the internet is quickly becoming the new sales front. Offline businesses now understand the power of being online, and how this can really put them in the limelight. With this in mind, they want in, however a lot don’t quite understand that the “if you build it, they will come” philosophy doesn’t exist online. This is where hiring an SEO strategist can be an integral part of your business.

In fact, we will refer to a recent experiment that occurred here in Melbourne. The company that owns the Yellow Pages (Sensis) recently opened a Pizza restaurant called “The Hidden Pizza Restaurant”. They launched a website, created a Facebook page, created some viral videos on YouTube, and told people “If you want to find us, just look us up where you normally would look up a business”. As such, their contact number was in the Yellow Pages, and this is how people found them. Once this project was completed, they had a large number of sales, and generated a lot of interest. Their claim was that the Yellow Pages still attracts customers.

Our response to this is that without the Social Media element to find the customers where they hang out, and without the SEO video marketing that spread like wildfire, no one would have known that the “Hidden Pizza Restaurant” ever even existed. The proof is in the pudding. We even hit the streets to compare Google Vs Yellow Pages. We can almost guarantee that behind this whole viral marketing campaign was an SEO strategist who knew exactly what he or she was doing, and although their claim is that a combination of offline and online marketing was what made this venture a success, we can guarantee that if they had the contact details for the restaurant available via a Google search, their profit would have doubled. Even tripled. In fact, we didn’t even receive a new copy of the Yellow Pages this year, strangely enough.. but that’s OK because we rely on Google 99% of the time, and the rest of the time, we refer to a local business directory, which isn’t owned by or affiliated with Sensis.

Did we get a pizza in the end? No… but we did hire a gardener a few weeks ago, (found on Google) which resulted in a sale of $1000+. We also used Google to find cheap air fares, ($200$+), interstate car hire ($300+), hardware for the Macbook ($500+) and even a graphic designer to create animated images of the team ($90+). That’s just to name a few. And this was without the power of any viral marketing, or even so much as a Yellow Pages listing.

Start Applying This Theory To Your Business Or Brand

Now imagine if you could have this power of online marketing behind your business or brand, whilst you are given the space to focus on important business development. This is why people hire experts to develop and implement strategies for them. You then have more time to give your customers what they want. A background SEO campaign will complement what you’re doing by helping your customers find you.

Potential customers don’t carry a Yellow Pages in their back pocket, but a lot of them carry devices with internet browsers that allow them to search for you in Google. Remember this the next time you consider exactly what it is that an SEO strategist can do for your business. Ready to learn more? Don’t be afraid to contact us for an SEO quote.

The dust is starting to settle and the feedback is in. Our recent seo training workshop was a massive success – but don’t take my word for it watch the reviews below…

“He just opens the kimono and tells you everything…” – Roger Baartz

“It was almost like a matrix” – Ian Howard

“More than just SEO” – Daniel Billingham

“Absolute wealth of knowledge” – Nick Edwards

“I wish I had built my website after I went to this course…” – John McClusky

“Clearly knows his stuff and is really good at teaching it” – Steve Ovens

“The guy’s a freak” – Mark Hayward

“The standout session was the one on outsourcing” – Paul Hutchison

“He shard very freely, no question went unanswered…” – Paul Hanson

“The Initial SEO Method was my turning point…” – Ryan T Malone

“He’s very honest, very transparent…” – Alan Kirke

If you’d like to grab your copy of these SEO training DVDs once they’re done click here to join the waiting list.