Wish You Were Here

Here’s a very good article on how to SEO Facebook specifically for commercial users to maximise visibility and links on search engine results pages.

According to a recent survey carried out in the USA by Sage Software and AMI-Partners and reported by emarketer, US SME’s are increasing their use of social Media.

Many are using the professional social networking site LinkedIn. General social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are also increasingly popular, but surprisingly the micro-blogging services (such as Twitter), forums, wikis and social bookmarking applications are less popular.

In Australia, I would imagine the figures would be even less. But social networks, micro blogging and social bookmarking can have two positive effects for SME’s.

Increase Direct Traffic

You can directly increase your website traffic through using tools such as Twitter. Techcrunch a digital newsletter recently posted their traffic results, stating  “Over the past few months, TechCrunch has experienced the power of this micro-media firsthand as the percentage of traffic we get from Twitter has grown to the point that it is now our second largest source of outside traffic after Google. In the past 30 days, Twitter accounted for 9.7 percent of all traffic to Techcrunch.com, up from 1.8 percent six months ago. This is out of millions of visits.”

Improve Page Rankings and SEO Results

Most Search Engine Optimisation Companies will tell you that off page SEO is probably more important to results than on page SEO. This is generally achieved by having high value page rank sites linking to your website. Well guess what! sites like Twitter, Digg, Stumble Upon and the rest rank well with Google and generating links to your site from these is pretty easy. This is why most websites these days are using social bookmarking icons frequently (like the ones below this post) to make it easy to add these bookmarks so they can have more authority sites linking to their website increasing their page rank.

Free Traffic

Having your website visitors bookmark your site can add traffic and increase page rank in search engines. There is no excuse for all Australian SME’s not to be using this technique.

Has the impending launch of Microsoft’s new search engine Bing got Google worried?  In my opinion not in Australia at least.

Google has a 90% market share for search in Australia with NineMSN and Yahoo the bulk of the remainder. Google is so entrenched as the local search engine of choice it will be difficult to change and any change will be slow and gradual after the initial curiosity wears off. Microsoft claim their engine is different with a focus on Local search, Travel and shopping, some of the features want be released initially released in Australia for several months.

See how Microsoft describe Bing

But Bing could mean a change in SEO strategy for local companies chasing the last ounce from their online efforts. This will be better understood following the launch of the new search engine this week, naturally most businesses will be racing to see how they rank on the keyword phrases they optimise for.

In addition Pay Per Click marketers may be able to purchase search engine advertising clicks at a cheaper rate on the new search engine and profit from the initial curiosity of the Bing service.

The big question that remains unanswered is how Microsoft and Yahoo fit together, if at all. With Yahoo’s new Global CEO announcing that Yahoo is not a search company, does this open the doors for a greater tie up with Microsoft. Only Time will Tell.

The recent Federal budget did not do a lot to support small Australian businesses, but it focussed heavily on Nation Building to protect Australian jobs. Treasury Swan said in his budget speech “We will support jobs today by building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow.”

However, hidden away in the budget is a measure that could destroy thousands of Australian jobs and impact heavily on Australian SME’s.

The Government’s announcement that it will widen the scope of the Do Not Call Register to allow all business and fax numbers to be registered. If this amendment to the legislation is passed it will mean you will not be allowed to pick up the phone and prospect any business who have placed their phone number on the register.

This change will impact heavily on all business that use the telephone or fax to prospect for new business. Before you call any other business that is not an existing customer, or has given you permission to call them, will have to go through a costly and time consuming process of washing you call list again the register to remove any registered businesses.

The phone is a vital tool for small business in Australia and the ability to communicate freely with prospective clients is the lifeblood of SME’s revenue. This measure could stifle the economic activity other budget measures were trying to encourage.

The implications for all businesses are potentially costly, if the legislation changes are implemented and you call other businesses to generate new customers, if you don’t check the register before calling you may be fined if a registered business complains about your call.

The Government has not heeded the lessons from the UK where a similar system has restricted normal business activities and has hurt SME’s; the very businesses the legislation was trying to protect.

My personal view of adding fax numbers to the register is different however. Incoming marketing faxes waste my toner, electricity and paper and invariably end up in the bin.

If you want your sales team to be able to pick up the phone and call other businesses to prospect for new customers unencumbered, I urge you to contact your local Government member and explain the impact that this legislation could have on your business.

The Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA) is one association fighting the change.