Websites and information for the Workshop at Manly Warringah Community College and Sydney Community College.

Understanding Keywords and Google Searching

It's important to understand how your page is read or 'indexed' by search engines. They place high priority on the words in the title bar of the page (up the very top - in the frame of this page it reads: 'Marketing Toolbox: 20 Great Ways to Promote your Business Online') and what is in headings on a page eg the bold blue heading text 1,2, 3 etc on this page.

Search engine robots are blind - they can only go on the text contents and how it's laid out to understand what a page is really about. So make sure your title bars don't just read 'Home' or 'Untitled' - each one should describe the contents of that particular page.

Within the body of your pages you need plenty of descriptive words about what you do and offer. Pictures are important, but not enough by themselves - there's nothing for Google to 'read' and understand. It's another reason to avoid too much Flash on home pages - moving pictures and music can look good, but often block Google searches and there are no actual words for it to index.

To understand how people search online - Google, Yahoo or MSN, see Google Suggest and use the Keyword Tool. The best tool for tracking website traffic (how people find you and the most popular pages), is the excellent and free Google Analytics - make sure your web-person installs it for you.

Establish a Personal Profile Online

This should be done on the 'About' page if you have a website, and by using other social media services.

LinkedIn has very good business credibility for networking, and free membership is sufficient.

Create a business-like Facebook profile will get you web presence - here's mine!. Also read my recent article on using Facebook to promote your business. Set up a free Business page on Facebook: examples Junnoon Restaurant and Profitable Hospitality - FB members can add themselves as fans.

If you're after a younger demographic, make sure you are active on MySpace.

Promote your Products & Services

Advertise using Google's AdWords - plenty of information here on how to get started. Your ad would appear on Google's search site or someone else's website like these below (colours and shapes vary but the wording is always as you wrote it):

Email customers and potential clients: I highly recommend the online service Constant Contact. I have used it for my weekly email for 4 years - very reliable and inexpensive. Have a go with their 60-day free trial - they have easy tutorials to walk you through it.

To check the 'spam score' of your email newsletter (and potential for being blocked), use the very useful free SpamDance service. What is spam? Read all about the Australian laws.

Google Maps has just added full featured searching to Australia, so if you want a cafe in Avalon, directions to the beach or the location of another business, it's as easy as a regular Google search. Try it. Google is constantly adding map tools and it's becoming a very powerful business tool eg 'My Maps' - let you create a map of features that interest you or promote your business eg My Sydney Cafe Collection.

Now is also the time to add a free Google local listing with a description of what you offer, hours, website, phone number etc.

Find out what industry directories there are that will list you - usually basic information for free and fuller listings at a price eg I-Do for the wedding industry.

Make sure you have plenty of information on your About Us and Contact Us pages and always have your phone number on the home page!

It's best not to have your email address visible, as it will be 'scraped' by spammers. Much better to have a Contact form like the Contact Us page on this site.

Your Website and Domain Name

Free website builders you can experiment with are Edicyand Webnode - here's a Webnode example: Learn to Cook. I recommend Sitesuite for excellent sites you can edit yourself (they are also very good web designers) or NetRegistry for low-cost build-it-yourself.

If you want to build a shared page with public information eg for a neighbourhood group or educational group, WIKIS are an excellent tool. These are like websites that are edited by a number of people - you control who can edit or read the content. See the tour for Wikispaces, one of the leading free wikis available.

Register your .com domain name at Godaddy and your .com.au domain name at MelbourneIT or NetRegistry. These services also have templates for setting up your own website at low cost - worth checking.

If you're not sure of what domain name to choose, use NameBoy to make suggestions. BUT then register it with GoDaddy - much cheaper.

As a no-cost option for a web site, you could register your domain name and have it 're-directed' to your blog - this can be done on the domain registrar's site.

Selling Products Online and Accepting Payments

More and more options are now available. If you want to set up a 'shop' online, the simplest and most trusted is Ebay which allows you to sell fixed-price items from an online Store. Yahoo also has an easy 'shop' site that can be set up with a website. You bank will also have online store options available - useful if you already have a credit card merchant facility.

You can accept payment through PayPal (owned by Ebay) - open an account and upgrade to a Business account. No cost, but the upgrade will take a few days to be approved. Now you can offer a link to a PayPal cart where people can pay for items eg accommodation, services, goods etc. People trust PayPal because of the strong fraud-protection measures.

If you're running events or classes, there are excellent services to promote them and sell tickets: check EventBrite and Amiando - they use PayPal to handle the payments.

Finally, you can give people your bank account details and ask them to EFT the payment. But unless you offer a real 'buy it now' facility, there will be considerable drop-off.

Display Pictures of Your Products & Services

Download and use Picasa, Google's free picture software for Windows. It links with Picasa Album.

iPhoto is the free equivalent for Mac users

Picasa Web Album - show your pictures online in an album. Upload from iPhoto or Picasa - click the picture for an example:

Flickr is another excellent album tool. Here's an example of the great food photography you can find on the site. Here's an excellent Beginner's Guide for Flickr. If you need quality photos for your website, check iStockPhoto - very cheap and enormous range.

SlideShow is a great way to show off your photos - you could put it onto your blog:
[Flash software required (free): if you can't see this, download it from Adobe]

Place your events online with Google Calendar to publicly show events online and to privately organise your event bookings. Excellent for when you want several people working jointly on a calendar.

Contribute your course or events to other online event calendars such as Meetup and Upcoming.

Share your Ideas: use Blogger to start your own 'blog' or online diary. A blog is your voice, and a website is your presence. Here is an example of what you could do Cafe Troppo and Deano42 selling knots and lanyards [thanks Samuel].

Blogs in Plain English:

How to start a blog with Google's free Blogger:

Blog Examples by small business owners: An English Tailor -- Billiard Company -- Serge the Concierge -- Sweet Riot, a chocolate company -- a collection of Winery Blogs -- Australian Newsagent -- An Artist -- Jintrinsique Pastry Shop -- a Sign company and Pilu Restaurant in Sydney.

Allow customers to share opinions in your own Google Group: here's an example used by educators. You can make it open or closed access. You may also find Google Groups, Yahoo Groups and other online forums on your special topic - contribute to them.

Want people to download a document (that might be too large to email), catalogue or report? Use the free Box.net to host it. If you want to turn your work into a PDF file for downloading or sharing, use the Mac's free PDF facility when you Print, or on a PC use the free PDF995 or similar.

Place a PowerPoint online for people to see, using SlideShare. Sign up and use for free at SlideShare. [Google now also has an online presentation service].

Here's a quick demo example I made:

| View | Upload your own

Keep Up to Date with Smart Business Ideas

Find blogs in your area of interest using Google's Blog Search. Once you find some blogs, many of them refer to other blogs in their side panels - you will find hundreds! How to keep up with all this?

Use a News Reader programme, either web based or software to keep track of your favourite blogs. Time to understand the little RSS symbol - read about it in this article.

Other Resources...

Keep track of your reputation and topics of particular interest (even competitors) with Google Alerts. To find yourself in a Google search, make sure you put the name in double quotes like this: "Your Name".

Ask your webmaster to install Google Analytics on your site - it's a free service that gives you an enormous amount of information about visitors and the popularity of different pages. You can also analyse the strength and popularity of your site with these free tools.

Try searching for yourself or your business now:

Use Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia for information on every type of service and product. For example, do a search for 'chocolate', 'acupuncture' or 'celestial navigation' - any subject you're training about. Add references to your online information eg blog.

Add a little humour to your blog by adding a YouTube video. We all need a laugh!

For example:

Or put a customer or contest winner's name in lights like this! Use NotCelebrity.

Would it help to have a translation service on your web pages? If you deal with overseas inquiries or anyone who uses English as a second language, there could be advantages. If so, add a Google Translation button to your site - click and try it (then click your back arrow to return to the original page):

For more information and follow-up, please send me an email or phone 02-93694558.

Thank you!

Ken