When Should You Start SEO? is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

Take the right first steps from the very beginning or you'll regret it.

Have you asked yourself, “When is the right time to start SEO implementation and how do I apply it to my website?”

Sadly, most companies ask this at the wrong time and it ends up costing them big. They see SEO as a stand alone activity that is somehow separate from the setup of their website. Truth is, SEO needs to be taken into account right from the outset.

When taking SEO into consideration it will shape certain decisions you make. It will affect the way the URL and links are structured, what type of extension you’re using, how you’re placing the keywords and what CMS you choose. It will affect the way you setup your site with the actual keyword structure, starting off with your most competitive phrase on your homepage, then your category words on your first tier pages and then, deeper in your site, less competitive keywords.

SEO is very much built into the web design and it’s not something you can bolt on after the fact. Leaving it till later will cost you time and money, especially if you make some big mistakes early on.

Moreover, the more pages you have on your website, the more important it is to start SEO upfront. A great example, being any e-commerce web store, SEO is critical to be done correctly from the beginning. Trying to change the URL structure after you’ve loaded all the products in, after the pages have been indexed, is a nightmare!

All this can be avoided if SEO steps are followed when they should be, which is right from the start. If you need some help to get started give us a call and we’ll make sure you start off on the right foot.

Online Marketing Strategy – Start With SEO is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

You've got to start with a good first strategy.

When you first get introduced to internet marketing, you’ll hear terms like SEM, SEO, social media marketing, brand marketing and pay per click. The fact is, there are many facets to online marketing and SEO is just one of many.

A popular misconception is that SEO is a subset of social media. This is really incorrect. It’s a standalone activity. Social media is all about engaging your community, building up awareness and having people interact with you on Facebook and Twitter; it’s all about community. SEO is about building back links to get you rankings in the organic search.

SEO and social media can help each other as parts of a bigger online marketing strategy. Once you build up a good SEO campaign, you’ll get more attention, people will start to come to your website and then you can continue to communicate with them in your social media space.

So where do you start?

We believe SEO is a great place to start because it builds on itself. In contrast to other marketing methods which require constant work, SEO is like a snowball that just keeps growing. Once you start to gain #1 positions for certain keywords, that filters onto other pages and keywords – and once it starts, it’s hard to switch it off!

Just remember, SEO is great, but it shouldn’t be all you’re doing online. It’s not wise to rely on just one method to drive traffic to your website. SEO needs to be only one part of an online marketing campaign.

To have us help you build a bullet proof online marketing strategy, give us a call.

Are Automated SEO Tools Blackhat? is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

Don't go fully automated.

Have you ever wondered whether using automated SEO tools are blackhat or spammy? We’d probably both agree you should avoid blackhat techniques right? However, we also want to make things as easy as possible too.

Here’s how we look at it – we think a certain level of automation is ok – as long as there’s some human input into a semi automated tool. Let’s look at a couple of examples to explain.

Generating fully auto posting blogs, scraping content from other sites using SEO software, just to create a feeder site that you can use to funnel page rank back to your primary sites is probably a little on the blackhat or spammy side of things.

On the flip side, as mentioned, semi automated tools with some level of input are, however, in our eyes, acceptable. For example, we use a service called Content Crooner which helps us submit our articles to a series of second tier article directories. We submit a good quality, unique article once and then this semi automated service submits it to other sites for us. Sounds ok right?

It’s only when you take a completely hands off approach, it becomes dodgy.

When you think about it, when automated SEO tools start popping up, it’s a good sign that the industry is evolving. It’s an indication that the industry is gaining recognition because people want to deal more efficiently with it. In this way, automation isn’t a bad thing. It just needs to be used more wisely.

What do you think? Submit your comments below or if you’re keen on starting your own SEO campaign using the best legitimate techniques, you might want to go ahead and contact our SEO experts.

SEO Vs AdWords Campaign – Which is better? is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

For best results... get two of the best together.

It’s pretty old school thinking, but we still hear it, that spending lots of money on AdWords will somehow increase your organic rankings. Let me dispel that myth right now! AdWords and organic rankings are two separate entities. One does not affect the other.

I know this might sound a little odd coming from an SEO company but we believe it’s a good idea to run both an AdWords campaign and an SEO campaign, since both have their strengths and their weaknesses.

A Google AdWords campaign is good for driving immediate traffic, for testing out new keywords and seeing what converts. For SEO, once you know which keywords convert, we believe it provides the best long term return on investment. So, as you can see the two campaigns work well hand in hand.

Contact us today to see how we can kick start your SEO campaign.

SEO Best Practice – Keep On Optimizing is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

Don't rest on your laurels.

Is SEO something you can do once, and once you have done it, you don’t have to think about it again? The simple and short answer is, “no”.

Remembering there’s two components to an SEO program – onpage and offpage. Onpage is all about having the right keyword in the right places on your site while off page optimization is all about building backlinks.

It’s true we’re looking to replicate what happens naturally as a site gains momentum and SEO will start to happen naturally, once you start to hit critical mass. However, you still need to get to that point and, even when you do, SEO needs to be an ongoing process. You always need to be clear on what keywords you’re optimising for and ensuring they’re on your website. This is a true SEO best practice.

Here at Melbourne SEO Services, we have taken things to the next level – we’re constantly jumping into Google Analytics and revisiting a site’s metrics.

We’re looking to find the top referring keywords to a website and then, using some rank tracking software, we want to find where we’re currently ranking for those keywords. If we’re not in position #1, yet the keyword is referring traffic, we make that our focus and send links to those specific keywords.

We only work on ten keywords at any point in time and then we just rinse and repeat every month.

So is an SEO program a one time activity? Unfortunately, no, you do need to keep doing it. If you want to leave it to the SEO experts, so you can focus on building your business, give us a call. Melbourne SEO Services will take you a notch higher.

How To Get Top Search Engine Placement For Any Small Business. is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

It’s tempting when you’re a small business person to do everything yourself.  You open the shop yourself, count the stock yourself, train and manage the staff yourself.  But there are some things you shouldn’t try to do on your own. You wouldn’t attempt to be your own lawyer or accountant and just the same, getting a top search engine placement is best left to the experts.

Here’s just a few things you’d need to learn to master SEO:

• competitive analysis
• laser sharp keyword research
• effective content writing
• 20+ different link building strategies
• conversion optimisation techniques

And you might also want to add to this list video marketing, HTML and CSS… and that’s just to name a few.

If you can do all that, you have a chance at getting your website to #1 on Google. But by then you’ll probably be better off running your own search engine optimisation company

So, if you’d like to focus on growing your own business, and leave SEO to the experts then Melbourne SEO Services might be your ticket. Our team has developed unique SEO methods which guarantees a positive return on investment.

We have conquered #1 spots for incredibly competive niches like the stock market, as well local businesses like this Melbourne dentist. We guarantee the same results for you (if we decide to take you and your business on).  Call us today for a chat (03) 8060 5131, download our free guide to SEO, and see what Melbourne SEO Services can do for you.

SEO Tracking – Simple Tweaks Can Multiply Your Bottom Line is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

The final stage of any successful SEO campaign should be tracking. By using SEO tracking, you can monitor and analyze the results to make sure that your efforts – and the money you’ve spent on SEO – are on target. There’s no way to improve what you don’t measure.

I love SEO because if you do it right, it will pay for itself over and over again. And once you’ve had a taste of that success, you’ll want to repeat it more and more. And with proper SEO tracking and analyzing of the results, you’ll be able to not only increase your traffic – you’ll be able to increase what’s most important to you: your bottom line.

The best thing about SEO tracking on websites is that it’s very transparent and easy to do, and after you have a few years of experience tracking and analyzing this data, you’ll find that you’re able to make tweaks and minor adjustments that can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

Sadly, while this is the final and most important stage of any SEO campaign, it’s also the hardest to teach. Knowledge of which adjustments to make comes only with years of experience and learning exactly what to do to get the really big results.

At Melbourne SEO Services we have that experience. If you’re driving 1000 unique visitors to a website that has a 1% conversion rate, all you have to do is make a very slight adjustment and you can double that conversion rate. It’s the same amount of traffic – but double the profitability. And by knowing what to look for in SEO tracking results, we can help you determine which page is worth spending your time to improve.

Once you become a client of ours we’ll work with you to help you grow long term. We’ll assist you in identifying new keywords and new opportunities. We’ll analyze what your competition is doing so you can stay at least one step ahead of them.

We here at MelbourneSEOservices.com have a whole bunch of strategies we can quickly and easily apply to your website. See what we’re all about and how we can help you with those minor tweaks that could mean major breakthroughs in your bottom line. Visit our services page to see what we can do for you.

How To Find Profitable Keywords – Keyword Research Tips & Techniques is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

Finding profitable keywords is the key to the success of your SEO and internet marketing campaigns.  Successful search engine optimisation relies in identifying what your customers are typing in the search engines. In order to attract buyers and potential customers to your site you’ll need to find your most profitable keywords.

In my previous article I discussed the difference between browsing vs buying keywords. I will now give you practical tips and techniques on how to conduct keyword research to find your best keywords.

Keyword Research Tip #1

You need not start your keyword research from scratch. Here’s a dirty little trick that you can do to find good keywords – spy on your competition. Identify your top competition and visit their website. Look at the keywords they are using in their content, categories and meta tags. This not only gives you an idea of what keywords they are utilising in their SEO campaign, it also gives you a chance to see lapses in their optimisation, giving you an opportunity to fortify your own website optimisation.

Keyword Research Tip #2

In order to find the best keywords for your business you need to think like your customer. Put yourself in the shoes of your target market.  Understand what it is they want and how they can get it.

Aside from using specific search terms, buyers generally use the word “buy”. People who use “price” and “cost” are also deeper into the buying process. When they are looking for keywords with “cost” and “price” there is a big probability that they have already chosen the product that they want to buy but they want to be sure that they are getting the best deal online.

Keyword Research Tip #3

Now that you have an idea of what keywords you want to use, utilize free keyword research tools to find how many people are searching for those keywords. Choose keywords with high search volume but with low competition. This can be a little tricky but getting the right combination can mean massive traffic, an increase in sales and ultimately a successful internet business.

I would highly recommend using the Google Keyword Suggestion tool, for three reasons – because it’s free (you really can’t beat that for value for your money), it’s easy to use, and other keyword research tools use the Google Keyword tool. In the keyword research video above, Dave gives you a tutorial on using the free Google keyword tool.

Keyword Research Tip #4

Once you have your keyword list, trim it. This is an essential step in the keyword research process. Choose only the most relevant keywords that would attract customers to your website. When doing keyword research you don’t need to have thousands of keywords in your list. It is a waste of time because it would be impossible to use all of these keywords in your campaign. It’s nice to have a long list of keywords – it gives you a feeling that you have accomplished something but in reality you would only need 20-50 of those keywords (maybe a hundred if you have a big site).  With keyword research, quality beats quantity anytime.

To be able to effectively bring targeted traffic to your website, it is of utmost importance to find the most profitable keywords to use for your SEO and website promotion. It may take some time and effort to find keywords that your customers are searching for but this is what would make or break your SEO campaign. Target the right keywords and see your traffic and conversion soar.

For advanced keyword research tips and techniques check out our SEO workshop on MelbourneSEOservices.com.

A Simple Search Engine Optimisation Technique To Target The Right Keywords is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

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.

Let An SEO Strategist Work It All Out For You is a post from: #1 Melbourne SEO Services Company

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.