Infoserve Group

Ok, here’s the next its-never-been-easier blog about the best ways to market your business online.

We’ve covered:

- Infoserve KeySites, which are one/two page websites specifically designed to rank highly in major search engines for chosen search terms, like “garden maintenance in Coventry” for example (see here).

- City-Visitor, which is one of the most used business directories on the Internet. You can get a listing on here to be found on the first page of major search engine results.

The next product?

- Infoserve eStart Websites

It’s all very well getting your business to the top of search engines, but what if your website is really old or you can’t manage it yourself to update the content? Or what if you don’t even have a website?

Infoserve’s eStart Website packages are simple.

Easy-to-manage, professional looking websites at affordable prices. There are a variety of designs which, using your own images and text, can be customised to your business.

They are like template websites so you don’t pay the huge costs of design and build.

Infoserve sorts the domain registration for you (yourbusinessname.co.uk), hosting (your website has to ‘sit’ somewhere to be available for Internet users to see), but then it’s down to you.

YOU get to maintain your company website and be in control; you can view reports on how many people have visited it, edit any text to include latest offers and upload any new photos.

And if one or two pages isn’t enough, try out eStart Plus product which gives you up to 10 pages on content.

So if you want to ditch your current website (Not modern enough? Not able to edit the content at all? Worried it will cost too much?) or want to start from scratch and build up a website for your business, give us a call. It really is pretty straight forward. The hardest part will be choosing your design…

You may have noticed a change in the way Google has been searching for your results. In the past month Google Instant has been predicting your search as you go, ‘faster than the speed of type.’ Researchers found that people type slowly but read quickly and this new innovation modifies the displayed results as you type, saving you time every time you search.

The creators claim that Google Instant could save you between two to five seconds whenever you search, and they even say that if everyone used Google Instant around the world, it would save 3.5 billion seconds a day, which could mean that 11 hours could be saved every second. That’s a lot of time saved for both businesses and their customers.

Now you might be wondering what this means for Search Engine Optimisation, and why Google Instant is important for your company. The changes to Google have meant that webpage optimisation is vital; if the key terms that a customer is searching for are being predicted by Google, it is essential that a company’s webpage has as many of those key predicted terms as possible. In the UK where 90% of searches happen on Google, tailored, effective SEO is a must.

Customers will view their Google results as more accurate due to Google Instant’s predictions, so a listing on the second page just won’t cut it, and accurate, professional search optimisation is essential. Our City-Visitor product has 12 million number one positions and 22 million first pages on major search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Infoserve’s SEO service offers your company results that are tailor made for your business and your requirements, and our goal is to help your customers find you as quickly and easily as possible.

Our products include a Keyword Management Report: the equivalent of an SEO health check for your website.

If you want to see your website ranking higher in the search engines and want to make the most of innovations like Google Instant contact Infoserve.

Much of the commentary on search marketing these days gets lost in technical jargon. As terms become more familiar, you’ll find “PPC” and “SEO” has just slipped in to everyday language and it’s easy to get confused.

There are many SMEs out there that are feeling reluctant to join the ‘online marketing world’ because they already feel left behind, or they don’t quite understand the significance of why they need to get involved.

So when you come across some really simple research which explains the importance of building an online presence, it’s worth pointing out.

The new ‘state of the nation’ survey from the IAB (International Advertising Bureau) is one of those examples. Really clearly laid out and to the point, it sums up how businesses are beginning to prioritise search marketing as part of their wider marketing mix.

Interestingly, 78% of respondents believed that search can build a brand. How do you think your business is reflected online?

As Infoserve also keeps pushing, websites are so important for creating an online presence and the IAB found that only 37% of websites are ‘good’ at achieving their objectives which leaves “much room for improvement once consumers reach their destination.”

It would be remiss not to point out our own survey findings too about the importance of good websites, which we hope are as clear… You can find them here . Get in touch if you want any help or guidance with kick starting your mini online revolution for your business.

Thank you to everyone who responded to our recent survey about online marketing and views about the internet in general.

We thought we would feedback the results so you can see exactly what everyone else is thinking too. We have compiled the results in a PDF document (752kb) for you to download.

Click here to see the results of the survey

If you are unable to open the PDF document, you can download the free Adobe Reader plugin, available here

So what does it all mean?

Nearly 80% of SMEs we surveyed think it’s very important to have top rankings of Google. Yet over a third rarely or never update their websites.

Having fresh, relevant and tailored content is really important in in determining search engine results. Whilst a few years ago having a website was the sign of a progressive business, people now look for websites that are engaging, dynamic and up-to-date.

It’s best to compare it to the high street - a stale and uninspiring website is like having a shop window that doesn’t ever make any effort to catch anyone’s eye. Most people would just walk past.

So what’s the next step?

Read our survey results to find out a bit more about how to evaluate your online presence.