Archive for the ‘Online Marketing’ Category

Email Writing Tips

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Email serves many different functions and the structure of that communication can be very important.

Tips for a business email

1.  ALWAYS put as first paragraph what you want the recipient to do.

Then you can expain at any length the reasons and details.

Just this simple step will increase productivity and reduce confusion.

2.  If there is no action required, please start email with For your information only. That way those you correspond with know that they will be kept informed and when they need to act.

I know this seems simple but when applied it streamlines email communication.

3.  Also make sure to keep the subject of the email relevant to the current content. Frequently in back and forth emails the subject can vary away from original email subject. This makes filing and searching more complex.

4.  Take the time to re read an email before you send.  It is amazing how a small typo can change the meaning of a message.

5.  If you are a WallCannRewards Advocate remember to include a link to your site or best selling products where relevant in your signature.  That way every email you send can be adding to your income.

Building your business online starts in your inbox

Monday, July 26th, 2010

The most useful and abused tool of internet communication is email.

Develop the best practice and train your staff to see a leap in productivity.

Most people have never been taught the basics of effective management of email communication. On seeing the lack of email management in all business WallCann now runs workshops to address this problem.

Simple repeatable systems will save 30 minutes to 1 hour a day. Stress relief for people feeling overwhelmed by the load of emails they have sitting waiting to be dealt with in their inbox.

The workshop also trains people in the use of Outlook to manage time. It is always great to watch the lights go on and stress disappear as people in all roles see the practical benefit of the workshop in their life.

Contact Mason College if you would like to participate or set up a workshop for your office.

For suppliers - when WallCannRewards system builds your online sales you need to be readywith best practice email and time management.
Also if you are earning income as an advocate in WallCannRewards make sure you growth is not hindered by bad email habits.

If you are not in Adelaide these books can also help.
Reduce Email Overload Email Smart Free Download

Or for self starters the complete set
Email Management Complete Set Outlook 2007 by Email Smart

How does the new Google Search Update affect you and me

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Checked your webstats lately and noticed that the big majority of searches these days are arriving courtesy of Google searches. If you are not getting many searches, then it is time to review why.

If you come across different search results at different times of the day, Make sure you are not logged into your Google account when searching, also have the personalization turned off and search history and even cookies deleted

However, if you were logged out and still seen a glimpse of your site ranking well, then not so well minutes later, that can be due to the search results were served from either a fresher Data Centre (DC) or an older Data Centre, depends.

There are three things that come into play that determine if your website is visible to your target markets during a Google dance:

- The GOOGLE dance as we call it, is when Google updates its search algorithms, ie search engine results page (SERP) experiences rapid changes, served from different DCs every few minutes
- New Algogorithm changes present searchers with different than normal SERPs
- Old and New DCs (New infrastructure DCs) both serving results with the new DCs being updated concurrently

Re-ranking of sites as we go, some are going further down due to:

a) - Large sites with 0000s of pages being re-assessed after the re-harvest, hence probably only 10-50%+ of pages processed along with their back link profile which means 10-50%+ of their overall power is missing and not yet available to add to the overall trust rank and authority

b)- The new algorithm, sites are scoring differently, assessed and measured differently, hence some of the power which was helping large sites was from backlinks, some of those backlinks are now slightly devalued or discounted, but some may be elevated but need time for the total-recall to gain back better (or worse) rank

Some are going higher up due to:

a)- Other sites have to take the place of sites being re-indexed and re-ranked, in most cases smaller and faster re-indexable sites while the infrastructure update is gathering pace

b)- New Algorithm update seem to prefer original onsite unique content even more than ever, large ecommerce sites for example tend to have product titles similar to other ecommerce sites, selling bestselling books for example, only the author him/herself are the originals. Other 000s of ecommerce sites and their stores are unique sites, but the book they are selling is available on other 000s of sites, hence it rests on added original content to support the site.

What WallCann recommend to our Prosumer Advocate websites -

As an example, you might say, I sell machinery or technology and WallCann Rewards has provided a store, a shopping cart with good design, Robust CMS and good customer service and that’s all that’s needed.

Well not quite. What the new Google algorithm is saying to us, differentiation, differentiation, differentiation with plenty of innovative ways of keeping users onsite and frequently coming back. Most importantly, you need to keep users bookmarking and recommending your site.
This ties in nicely with what we thought about this new Algorithm updates, being powered either partly or wholly by the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence), titles and description are now only a small reliable pointer, GOOGLE decides which should come at the top mostly from users experience and this is pure AI.

Improving results for common phrases in Search Engines

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Step 1 - Relevance of phrase
Most important - The common phrase MUST appear on the pages at least 3 times and 1 should be in a title. More than 7 times can be regarded as spamming so make sure content is relevant and balanced.

For best results a page should be tailored for each phrase with phrase in page title and 1 heading. Your page/site will not be picked up by a search engine for a phrase that is only implied or showing as a graphic.

Search engines need content as TEXT to select relevancy.

There is no limit to the number of pages you can have on your site to relate to different keyword phrases.

Pages can easily be added through your WallCann CMS.

Step 2 – Consider PPC
When searching on common phrases (not business name) look at what total competition is shown by results number given at top of page. This is the competition. There are many factors in reaching further up the search results.

Instant top of page can be achieved by paying for your position using Pay-Per-Click advertising. WallCann does this for several clients with a fixed monthly advertising budget. Cost varies with the level of competition for particular keywords. We also provide training.

Using PPC advertising increases traffic, provides very good statistics and increases market awareness in relation to your site and a particular search phrase.

Google Adwords provides all the information needed to build and run your own campaigns.

Step 3 - Activity anf Time

For free search results there are many factors and the major search engines shift and change these every few months.

One factor is time. Older sites are regarded as more valuable than recent sites. This can be partly helped by registering your domain for 10 years if possible. Shows a serious site not a scam short term site.

Have a good site map that can be easily followed by search engine robots. Keep it up to date. The WallCann CMS does this automatically.

Keep the site active. Search engines watch for how frequently a site is changed/updated. Add a blog and write a short keyworded article a minimum of once a month. Roughly 250 to 750 words. Choose a keyword phrase or specific product to help with the value of search engine positioning. Be focussed rather than general. More activity better results in Search engine ranking

Social marketing is becoming more important. Consider a twitter account for your business. Have it feed so it is showing on the first page or contact page or most important page of your site. Consider a facebook page.

Make sure your web address is on every piece of paper that you use in your business when relating to customers. For example, invoices, letterheads, catalogues, Christmas cards, gift certificates. Search engines notice how much traffic you get from other areas and it helps build your value. So any way you can get traffic do it.

Add content and more content so your site is viewed as a information resource in your niche. Google in particular values good focused content.

Remember many of your competitors will be doing some, all or more of these activities. Be patient, consistent and measure results.

Review your site and activities with WallCann every 6 months to make sure you are making the correct choices for online promotion as the only certainty is things will change.

WallCann’s Key Factors for Online Success

Friday, November 6th, 2009
  • Simple and accurate KPI tracking
  • Fast high quality responses to online enquiries
  • Flexibility in website structure to allow easy updating of news and product information
  • Clear navigation and clear call to action
  • Access to contact information allowing a range of ways to interact with enquirers.
  • A desire and willingness to unlearn and relearn
  • Digital information staff training to sell your unique proposition,

Does your web developer actually have the experience like WallCann of building and running a commercially viable web sales platform?

Contact WallCann