#1
Let Google, the world’s most successful search engine be your personal online spy … it’s simple and it’s free – here’s what Google has to say about it:
“Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.
Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
- monitoring a developing news story
- keeping current on a competitor or industry
- getting the latest on a celebrity or event
- keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams”
For businesses, obviously the second use is the most important and here’s how it works … each time Google finds a reference to the query or topic you requested to monitor you will be sent an email with the details.
As well as keeping up with what your competitors are doing, this is also a great way to check up on trademarked names, Company names etc. – not only can you keep tabs on when your site or product is mentioned but you can also check that competitors aren’t using your Company name or product’s trademarks to promote their own business.
It’s not only fast and free, but also can save you a lot of time consuming, tedious investigative work. Simply go to www.google.com/alerts and set up the alerts you require.
Hint: If the alerts you want to set up include more than one word, put quotation marks around “your search phrase” to ensure that you only receive notification when a result includes all the words or you may find you receive a lot of irrelevant alerts.
#2
“Error 404 – The Webpage Cannot Be Found” – in a way the “404” page is a blessing because to get a visitor on any page of your site is encouraging, but the opportunity is lost if this page is not used as a valuable sales tool.
It is only recently that we have been including custom, site-matched error pages on the websites we design, so do a check on your website by typing in an address that you know is incorrect, and if you don't see a page with an error message that is matched to your website, then we can implement this for you for just $15 + GST. Not only will this serve to ensure "404 visitors" land on your site, but it also makes it simple for them to view what they are looking for as quickly as possible.
#3
Lastly, the most important solution and a topic we have covered in numerous newsletters … LINKING… If you want to do well on any search engine, especially Google, linking is THE single MOST important thing you can do. It really is that simple … spend time generating quality links to your website from well ranked complimentary websites. To check on how many sites Google has recorded as linking to your website simply go to www.google.co.nz and type “link:http://www.yoursite.co.nz” into the search box (don’t include the quotation marks).
Did you know that Google was originally a college student's project created in 1996 for the sole purpose of defining a website’s value by the sites that link to it and this is still its primary function. Linking is EVERYTHING to Google.
