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Getting Started with Search Engine Optimisation
A Cornell study shows that most clicks occur on the first few results
These days, people rely heavily on search engines to find them the most relevant information to what they are looking for. Research data shows that when people use search engines, they are more likely to only click on the results that appear on the first few lines. Websites that have been search engine optimised are more likely to appear on the first few pages of search engines like Google. Being first on Google is what many websites are trying to achieve. Having that ranking gives credibility to the website which would generate more traffic to the web page. This is crucial for businesses that want to stay competitive in this digital era.
Optimising your website to increase your search engine rankings is an on-going process. It is not a one off thing that you can set in place and forget, then hope that your website will be ranked higher. However, there are simple initial steps that you can take to make sure that your website is optimised for search engines. Here are five of them…
1. Copy-Writing
Become a wordsmith or hire one. Keywords play a large role for on-page SEO, however recently Google changed their algorithms to include content relevancy and its originality. Copying content from other websites then regurgitating it on your own website will not help your website get ranked higher. It’s important to frequently publish new and original content so search engines can index those pages which will improve your website’s rankings. When writing, make sure you are using the keywords that you want your website to be found with. Use those keywords as often as possible but refrain from overusing, as it may look forced and disingenuous. Google will also penalise your website for Keyword stuffing. For example, a commercial cleaning company should use the keyword phrase “commercial cleaning” as often as possible on their website. When people search on Google for “commercial cleaning”, their website will be associated with the keyword and be displayed amongst the results.
Education: Fundamental Metrics of Analytics
Previously, we emphasised the importance of measuring your website performance. Now that you have some form of monitoring tool installed on your website, you need to understand what these metrics mean to your business and how you can improve them to increase your website’s performance.
This post will cover the fundamentals of what you should be looking at. These metrics measure the core performance of your website. They provide an overall view of how your website is doing and give you insight about the kind of traffic that your website is generating.
Visits vs Unique Visitors
These are two metrics that are often misunderstood. Visits are the number of sessions created within a date range. Each visit by a user generates a new session. This session has a time limit and a user can leave a website and come back to it within that time limit and still be counted as one visit. If they come back to the website outside of that time limit, they will generate a new session which will be counted as a second visit. You will notice that your Visits are always higher than your Unique Visitors. Both metrics have equal value of importance, however, they shouldn’t be mixed up with one another. Unique Visitors are individual users who visited your website. These users will not be counted more than once as a unique visitor. For example, Joe visits www.xyz.website.com, the website counts him as a unique visitor and one visit. Days later, Joe returns to the same website, the website will not count him as a unique visitor again but he will be counted as another visit. Continue reading →
Facebook Offers
Facebook is adding a new feature to their Facebook Pages. Facebook Offers is a new way for businesses to offer discounts to their followers. If you have a business page on Facebook, you can now offer discounts in the form of coupons that your fans can claim. Facebook will send them an email and the coupon can be printed out.
With Groupon and Scoopon dominating the market, we are keen to see how this will affect the group buying coupon industry. Groupon charges a premium through their hefty commission rates. Facebook Offers plans to make this available for all Facebook Page owners without any fees and charges.
Offers will be distributed through the News Feeds. Additionally, it can be promoted through Facebook Ads to gain more users. Users will see a post feed with a “Get Offer” link which they can click on. More explanations of the feature can be found on facebook.com/help/offers.
Not everyone will be able to take advantage of this new feature. As always, it will rolled out slowly across the globe. Here’s hoping Australian pages will get it soon!
Need online strategy ideas? Talk to Magik! We are Brisbane Web Designers with over 10 years of experience. We’ll help you reach your targets.
Education: Are you measuring your website performance?
Since the dawn of times we have been measuring things. Athletes measure their strength, race car drivers measure their speed, businesses measure their profits. We use this data as a benchmark to improve and achieve higher. The same should be applied to websites. Are you measuring yours?
Through all the years of working as a web designer, I found that many businesses still don’t understand the importance of website statistics. Worst yet, many businesses still don’t have a measuring tool implemented within their website. For many businesses, their website is often the first point of contact. Ultimately, the purpose of a website is to generate leads or sell online. When unmeasured, it’s the same as driving blind. You’ll get to somewhere but you won’t know how, when and where. Continue reading →
Magik Education: Tips and Strategies on Running Websites
Magik New Media is proud to announce the start of our new educational series on running a successful online campaign. With almost no barrier of entry, businesses are able to establish an online presence without having to spend a lot of resources. However, simply being online is no longer enough. It won’t help your business reach your target market. With hundreds and millions of websites available on the Internet, how can a business break out from the tangled mess of a web?
Confused about Analytics? We'll explain it all within the Magik Education series.
The answers can be found within Magik Education.
We will cover all topics related to running a successful website. Categories include optimising your website design, getting found on Google and other search engines, online marketing strategies, web hosting tips and tricks, and Mobile Apps development.
Our education can be applied to all types of businesses. Whether you are a sole trader, a small business, a large corporation, you will find relevant and helpful information on how you can increase your website performance through solid online strategies.
Subscribe today and follow us on Facebook and Twitter, we’ll let you know when we have new information! 
Need SEO… Here is what to know and techniques recommended…
Need SEO… Here is what to know and techniques recommended… Don’t be going down the path of link farming by using cheap links from offshore providers, build quality link on a solid foundation of planning and strategy…
1. Accessibility – What is meant by this is users and search engines both need to be able to reach all of the pages, all the content that you’ve created on your website in easy ways, and you need to make sure you don’t have any dumb mistakes that can harm your SEO
2. Keyword targeting – You have to choose the right keywords to target. Work on keywords that are related to your offering but also have proven search and enquiry volume
3. Content quality and value – When users arrive to your site, they need to engage in relevant content and information that gives them what they are looking for… No point getting them there so have them leave because you don’t deliver what they are searching for in the first place.
4. Design quality, user experience, and usability – This goes hand in hand with point 3 ‘Content, quality and value’ SEO and your website are sides of the coin. You can’t have one without the other. Don’t skimp on your website design, do it professionally and strategically… Work with your designer to structure your website visitors experience.
5. Social account setup – Because social and SEO are coming together like never before, Google is showing plus ones and things that people share by default in the search engine rankings. Bing is showing all the stuff that has been shared on Facebook, and they are putting it above the rest of the content. It really, really pays to be in social, and social signals help search engines better rank things as well as having a nice second order effect on user and usage data, on branding, on the impact of people seeing those sites through social sharing and potentially linking to them. GET SOCIAL!
6. Link building – Link building plays a big role but needs to be done properly… Don’t just link in and leave it at that. It is mis conception that this is what the magical element is in SEO but it is so much more… Get quality links, link exchange with your contacts, blog and comments on blog articles ‘ethical and value offered comments that is’ and do it where its relevant. Get into directories, industry specific and relevant. Do some PR. We have a client in Sydney that get write ups all the time for their work and they do nothing to aid there SEO and as a result of the PR write ups they are number ’1′ in google for ‘architects sydney’. It is a powerful thing…
There is do much to this process and it needs to be clearly understood and not toyed with lightly… do your research, understand the mechanics or just talk to someone who knows what they are doing 
…. Hint, Hint!
Lata and love from Magik…
Google + and the liking trend….
Because Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and BlogSpot, just to name a few, aren’t enough places for us to store our most private thoughts and photos, Google has now stepped in and become a competitor in social media. At one week old, Google’s new Google+ is causing quite the stir. Before we get into the bad stuff, we’ll list some lovely improvements to Google’s social media.
Unlike all the other social media platforms e.g. the ones listed above, Google never offered personalised URL’s and instead have you a long code (imagine a barcode.) Now, not to sound picky, but telling your friends to go find your profile at 115470752904200114 is a little confusing to all of us accustomed with own our special names as URL’s. Rest assured though, as Gplus.to come’s in, eradicating this problem! It’s a simple little app that lets you create a brief URL to share with your mates. Problem fixed!
There are a few more perks up Google’s sleeve though. Some other pretty neat features of Google+ are ‘circles.’ How many of us have wrote something like: “Work is so boring, why can’t it be Friday?!” only for your boss, who you’ve got as a friend on Facebook, sends you an email to get to work? Awkward! Don’t worry though, with circles you can dump your friends into categories to avoid any more cringe worthy moments like that.
Another nifty detail is ‘hangouts’ where you can, like, hangout with your friends. It’s all via webcams, but it takes the when/where/what out of organising a catch up!
My personal favourite is (drum roll) ‘Instant Upload.’ Admittedly in the exclusive group of annoying people who load every photo they take to Facebook, you can set up a (private) album that immediately uploads the photos you take straight to it. From there you can decide who sees what.
Worthy of a mention is sparks; the ultimate boredom killer – type in a topic and swoon over the results. You can also swoon over ‘Huddle’, which, essentially, is a conversation (six people only, guys) between selected friends, kind of like MSN chat! The conversation is accessible via phone, also, which means you no longer send the same text to countless others!
You know you’re curious…check it out here;
https://plus.google.com/up/start/?sw=1&type=st
Start the financial year GST Free!
Happy New Financial Year!
Start the financial year GST Free!
Got a new financial year resolution? Great! If not, rest assured, we’ve got the perfect one for you.
This financial year, don’t miss out on the endless benefits of maximizing your online presence! Bring in business and represent yourself with a creative and innovative website. It’s the best way to start the new financial year. Not convinced? What if we take the GST component off the cost? That’s right! We’ll pay for it!
An online presence for your business is the not only the most cost-effective communication medium but is also active marketing. If you’re not already online, or your website isn’t up to par with your standards or communicate your products and services effectively, wwwhat are you thinking?
A website needs to communicate how great your business and services are while engaging your visitors to take action and make contact. It’s the perfect way to advertise your products and services, talk about your team and promote yourself to your target market.
If this resolution sounds perfect for your business, then you need a little Magik.
Let us develop your new website this financial year and we’ll cover the GST of your website project, just something from us to celebrate your start to the financial new year.
Contact us now! Call 1300 353 700 or drop by www.magiknewmedia.com.au to check you what we can do for you.
We have moved!
Magik has moved… We are now in a fresh new pad with new toys and furniture that makes our set up look like an Ikea catalogue. Come by check us out. We are now at 1/92 Commercial Rd, Newstead 4006 QLD. Drop in say hi… Magik.
We welcome Chris Talbot to Magik!
Magik welcomes our newest crew member Chris Talbot to the team.
Magik has brought Chris to Magik for his exceptional talent: helping clients develop their business online. With a university education in multimedia and communications marketing, over a decade of experience in online media and a thriving off-hours career as the front man of a slammin’ band, Chris is truly a rock star in every sense of the word. Prior to joining Magik New Media, Chris worked in advertising production and sales for television and press organisations. Thinking outside of the square and fleshing out marketing strategies that have positive outcomes for business is what gets Chris excited!
He is keen to work with businesses that are ready to rock by exploiting the massive opportunity the World Wide Web offers.
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