A client together with us has launched a fishing and outdoors website today
With some 2500+ and growing products they are sure to have what you’re looking for – and if not – let them know they will find it and get you a great price
so check out www.fishingandoutdoors.co.nz
With the release of the iphone 4s today – both Vodafone and now Telecom are offering great deals
Personally we took a great deal from Vodafone and upgraded our iphone 3s’s to the 4s
If you’re thinking about iphones now is a great time to talk to the phone companies
We deal with Brett Sawyers at Vodafone 021 665 595 – have a chat with him
The main 2 browsers are Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer – plus there is Safari (for the Mac), Opera and a few others
It’s important to keep your internet browser up to date; this makes your computer more secure when you are browsing the internet and also ensures that you can view and operate websites correctly.
Internet Explorer is typically the one that causes issues – the current version is 9 (only just released), yet around 20% of users are on version 7 and 5% are using version 6!
Older versions of anything like browsers (and virus software) have many issues that are fixed in later versions, so it’s important that they are updated.
How to update them
For Internet Explorer – Just google search Internet Explorer –
For Google Chrome – this updates itself
What do we use
We use Google Chrome as our main browser – you can get it too (its free) – just Search for Google Chrome (in 2 years it has around 20% of the market share)
Any questions please let us know
Its really important that you put your website address on all your advertising.
A website expands on and helps other types of advertising; as you can say a lot more on a website, than other forms of advertising.
A website also helps you measure the results of other types of advertising – say a flyer drop – by referring them to the website, did you see an increase in website traffic?
Advertising a website is simple, even if you don’t advertise much – just add the website address to your emails – that is called a signature; this is mine –
Mustang Services
PO Box 743, Whangarei
C 021 587 218
E fraser@mustangservices.co.nz
If you’re not sure how to do that – let me know – I’ll tell you how to do it.
Lastly – any additional traffic on the website is good, everything that is good helps with the search engines – Direct Traffic is Good
At the moment a phone scam is doing the rounds.
You may get a phone call from someone who may also indicate that they are from Microsoft or some other large computer company
They will say that you have a virus on your computer or our system reported that you had a virus on your computer etc and they need to you login into a website so they can fix the problem.
DON’T do it – it’s a scam
Even I have had a phone call from them, it was someone with very poor English – but I’ve heard there are a lot better sounding ones out there
I’ve heard of 1 elderly lady who lost $800 to them
Best advice, hang up
In our last article, we advised that you shouldn’t just link to everyone who asks you to give a link “you give me a link, I’ll do the same”
Now let’s cover why you should have links
So what are links?
Links are broadly a “vote” from you to say “hey this is a good site, have a look”
Simple rules
Are there good links?
Yes, from good websites which are relevant to your business
Who should I have Links with?
To a website that is related to your business, some good examples are
These are all examples where you should make sure that they DO give you links. It’s worth checking these sorts of websites, and if they haven’t listed your website; send them an email asking them to update your contact details.
Should they give me one in return?
Yes and no
Yes, isn’t that fair!?
No, you give an exit door from your website;
Issues with Links
They can take your clients away from your website!
With this in mind, think about where you list these links; maybe on a separate page, or on about us – it’s not a good idea to display them in a prominent position, as this:
Things to think about
Any questions please let us know
At the moment people from around the world are sending anyone with a website an email requesting that you give them a link to their website; and the will do the same in return.
If you get one of these emails; our advice is delete it – DON’T reply (that could attract more emails)
Reason why NOT: if you allow this to happen it will likely have a BAD impact on your website ranking with the search engines
This is from Google
“some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the purpose of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact your site’s ranking in search results. Examples of link schemes can include:
You are only after links (think like votes) from and to good websites that you want to support
The email often looks like this
“Hi,
I’m xx xx, Web Marketing Consultant. I’ve greatly enjoyed looking through your site xxx.co.nz and I was wondering if you’d be interested in exchanging links with one of the websites I represent, which has a related subject. I can offer you a HOME PAGE link back from…”
Any questions please let us know
Yes! it could well
How will it affect my website?
Well we expect the way people surf the internet to change; now they can sit on their couch and surf the internet on the ipad – yes you can do that on a laptop; but that’s not as easy or comfortable.
This means that you need to ensure your website works on Apples Safari web browser.
It also means that flash parts of a website won’t work – Apple has steadfastly said that it won’t allow flash on its devices.
What is flash – Adobe Flash – is software that runs a lot of the moving graphics on a website, some websites are made entirely of flash (oops)
Time to check your sites then!
How do I do that?
Ask us; we’ll use our ipad to have a look at your website and take a screen shot for you
Email info@mustangservices.co.nz and tell us your website address
What is an ipad?
Have a look http://www.apple.com/nz/ipad/
It’s a device that has been eagerly waited for by thousands of people. Apple has such a following of loyal users.
Higher than forecast sales figures from overseas meant that our release date was delayed until today.
“We can get you to the top of Google!”
Have you received one of these phone calls??
Well STOP and THINK!
What they are doing is selling you advertising on Google – AND charging you for it; often via a Credit Card for several months.
Is this something wrong – No probably not; BUT please don’t immediately agree to what they want (some of them ask for Credit Card details over the phone). The amount that they are often charging is a lot higher than the actual costs of advertising on Google! Even after some allowance for management of your adverts.
What you should consider is:
1. What words are they buying for you?
2. Are the really best for your business?
3. What adverts will they write for you?
4. What results will they provide? (in the form of reports)
5. What are they making out of it? (i.e. are you paying a fair value)
There is nothing wrong with Google Adwords; in fact it is a very good way of obtaining exposure – but it does need to be thought out or you will just be wasting money – this probably won’t happen over a phone call!
What we say is Stop, Think and Ask –
We are only to happy to give you some advice on Google Adwords
What are Google Adwords?
Google Adwords are PAID search results that show up as an advertisement next to a customer’s search.
These show up in the yellow shaded areas above the first result and or on the right hand side of the page; they are called ‘Sponsored Links’.
Why advertise on Google?
The other area shaded green, contains ‘organic’ results. Organic results are generated by Google, purely based on how it views your website in the internet; depending on the market this can take time and a lot of work obtaining links and various other items to get your website to show towards the top.
Further; Organic searches don’t always show what YOU want to push as opposed to what Google picks; it collects words from your website and it is a machine.
Google, according to NetApplications in July 2009 received 78.45% of all searches; Bing (Microsoft) had 3.17% and Yahoo was 7.15%.
If you consider the way the world is going; we are more reliant on computers and the internet. Every day the internet continues to grow and become part of our lives. In 2007 Telecom sold off Yellow pages, now if you look at Google searches often all your business details are online, including your phone numbers! How much did you spend on Yellow pages last year?
The New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority has released its 2009 spending figures; the results show that the ‘interactive’ sector which includes the internet was the only sector to show a increase in spending. The total amount was $214m (with 10.5% of the total market) – which is an increase from 2008 which was then $193m (5.8% market share).
Advertising spending on TV, Radio, Newspapers and Magazines all declined by a combined total of $278m since 2008 – this would certainly explain why their sales people are knocking on your doors more often!
Total advertising spending for the year was down $272m on 2008 totals.
The figures indicate that the internet is the place to be – why?! –
Cost, its targeted AND reporting – it can actually tell you what happened, how many, who, what they did, how long etc etc – try asking printed or radio advertising for actual reports!
Food for thought next time an advertising sales rep comes though your doors.
Mustang Services
