Austin Webpages

Tag: google

  • Why Google Algorithms are a Waste of Time

    In 2014, all that matters is that you know what you are talking about

    Small business owners probably got headaches when their SEO firm said things like Penguin or Hummingbird, as most owners have no desire to keep up with Google’s search algorithm updates. The SEO firms would sell that they know they would magically know the secrets to Google’s madness like they are the cure for cancer. Kudos to them for being persistent, but its mostly a scam.

    To clear the air, your SEO firm should be bringing you value with their direction. What to topics to blog about during the week. What static content to have on your site. What topics and information you are lacking. What your competitors are doing. Maybe they also write some content and your blogs for you or create infographics and images for your blog posts. They help you manage your social networks, material for your various communication campaigns. They bring awareness to your business outside of just your websites. Its a lot of work.

    What they shouldn’t be telling you  is that you need to adapt to Google algorithms and their constantly moving target. That isn’t a stable marketing plan. A good SEO company will undoubtedly follow Google’s moves, but they must understand why the algorithm changes, not so much the how the formula works. What the end game is. The goal, has always been the same, do you have the information that someone is looking for.

    Google is looking at your website, reading your content, and determining what you are an expert in. Your content is all that wonderful knowledge that you have in your head. Google is categorizing that info, grabbing similar information from your competitors and putting them all in a file cabinet. The ones at the front, have the best info for that topic.

    What is the Google Algorithm trying to do?

    Google isn’t 100% there yet, but that is ultimately where they are heading. That is the basic function of a search engine. It’s very simple. Someone asks a question on Google, and whoever has the best answer or information, is displayed first. No fancy coding. No fancy SEO gimmicks and front page unrealistic expectations. Do you have the best information, and nothing else.

  • Recent Google Changes Affect Small Businesses

    Google quietly changed their search algorithm and didn’t say anything for a month

    I believe that small business owners don’t have a website for two main reasons – either lack of time or lack of know how. As we mentioned in our previous blog, Google recently made a change in their formulas that handles the search results. This falls under both of the reasons why a small business owner hasn’t made the jump into employing a business website. The owner  has no time to keep up with these changes – obviously they have a business to run. On top of that they need to know how these changes affect their small business website and their marketing strategy.

    Quick History Lesson on Google

    Google changes affect small businesses and shows its direction - picture from google.comForget Panda, Penguin and other code named updates to Google’s algorithm. Instead lets look at the main ideas behind all of Google’s updates. In the early 2000’s, Google changed the game and stopped responding to keyword stuffing. An example of keyword stuffing is if “Google changed their algorithm” or some variation of that phrase, were repeated into every other line of this blog.

    A few years later, they got rid of the reciprocal links and began to address link farms. That mean’s that websites setup to show large amounts of similar category links made less of an impact on search rankings.

    Four years ago, Google started to incorporate social media. A couple of years ago social media was much more incorporated into search engine rankings when Google+ made its debut.

    A lot of this I am simplifying, and there were many more updates in addition to the ones I mentioned. Mainly I want to show small business owners the trend. Google used to be influenced by fancy code and loopholes. Today, Google is striving for a goal of being humanly compatible. It wants you to be able to ask it “Where do I pay my cable bill?” and instead of showing you your cable company’s home page, it will show you the exact page where you can pay your bill online. It wants you to ask “how do I cook a steak properly” and restaurants do not show up, but instead great articles showing you step by step instructions. Further, if you ask anything about location, it will take into consideration where you are, if you have set up Google to allow that. Such would be, if you were looking for a “website for your small business” and you were in the Austin area, you would (hopefully) arrive here. What is only going to matter, is if you truly match the intent and needs of the customer.

    The difference between today and back in the early 2000’s, is that more and more, the internet is much more of a level playing field. It’s not 100% there yet, but it is moving in that direction. If you are the right fit for the customer and you have the information, product and services, customers will find you.

    The Next Step

    Hummingbird, Google’s latest update, is also bringing in a slight curve ball. Don’t worry, it is still very much a part of the bigger picture that we believe Google is after. As mentioned earlier, location seems to be one of the bigger topics that Google is incorporating into its “knowledge graph”. The trend is showing that Google is going to continue to merge its social media via Google+ more and more to its search results. It won’t be long before you can ask Google “what do my friends want to eat tonight”, Google will check your friends and their likes on Google+, check their calendars and come back and give you a listing of local Chinese fast food restaurants.

    On the internet, it doesn’t matter if your business only has a few employees. Contact Austin Webpages today to get your Austin Small Business online. We know how Google changes affect small businesses. Call for your free quote and expand your customer base today!

  • Why Blogging is Good for Business

    Blogging helps business attract customers

    As an Austin small business owner, how do you stand out as having a great product or service? Showing your customer that you are an expert about your product is a way to gain your customers trust. That is why blogging is a great way to share your knowledge to your customers. Blogging not only allows you to grow a great collection of content about your product or services. As an added benefit, blogging will undoubtedly help you rank higher on Google.

    The Blogging Approach

    Every small business website usually has a handful of sections, their home page, a way to contact them and pages about their business. Those are very broad topic pages. A blog post should be about a specific and you can get into more details. You should write for your readers in a similar way you talk to them in person. Remember, the goal is to teach your readers first, so they have to be able to understand what you are saying.

    Blogging consistently will have many great results for your website. It will show your customers you know what you are talking about one blog post at a time. Before you know it, you will have a small library of information. Readers will come to you if you are able to explain your topic well, often referred to as “high quality” content in the SEO world. Bonus points if no one else is talking about what you are explaining in your blog post.

    Google and Your Blog

    This month marked Google’s 15th birthday, and Austin small businesses, if you want your customers to find you, then your website’s performance on Google is going to be among your main focuses. This past week there was a major announcement about Google changing their search algorithm, and actually had it quietly implemented for a few weeks, but how is this going to affect Austin small businesses?

    The truth is, you are Google’s customer, and their goal is to create the perfect search engine. Google wants its users to type in what they are looking for and show them exactly what they were searching for. Plain and simple. Whatever anyone tells you about how they know the secrets of Google’s magic formula, is baloney. This release from google, is one step closer to humanize the search process more and more. Give customers what they need to know, that is what Google wants, that is what you should want.

    Your blog, written for your customers understanding, will be what Google looks at the most. You have a small library of knowledge on your website. People in the same field will quote and link to your website’s blog explaining topics. This builds your backlinks and your credibility. Those points are vital to ranking high in Google. And that is how customers find you.

    Contact Austin Webpages today to get your blog setup and get direction on what to blog about. Contact us today for a free quote!

  • Why Your Small Business Needs a Website

    Why Your Small Business Needs a Website – Strong Internet Presence

    In today’s economy, there are many answers as to why your small business needs a website. It goes beyond just advertising, a website isn’t just a digital billboard in the cloud. Having a website can shrink the level of competition between a small business with few employees and those mid range size companies. Unfortunately, owners must overcome a few barriers to get a small business website. These usually are a lack of time or lack of know how.

    Every small business is going to have a goal in common – to get more customers. Today we will cover four reasons why your small business needs a website.

    Central Information about Your Product

    Your small business will have blogs, general content, online reviews and many more tools all centered around your website. This gives potential customers everything they need in a one stop shop.

    Why your small business needs a website - major components of a webpage

    • General Content – Visitors can learn about your products and what solutions are offered
    • Portfolio & Reviews – Potential customers can see your prior work and feel confident by reading previous customers’ experiences
    • Product Knowledge – You can show off your expertise on a subject on your blog or by posting short videos. This will further gain your customers’ trust about your product.
    • Communication – You can provide various ways for future customers to get in contact with your business. There can be contact info listed with your operational hours, a map to your business and online forms for customers to send messages to you directly.
    • Social Media – Put your customers to work by having them share your great product for you. Social Media is a great way to get the virtual word of mouth going. Using Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and all your social media accounts to drive future customers to your website

    These pillars are the core of a small business website. Your product will be known, communicated and searchable. And the best part yet… is that a website is affordable and very cost effective.

    Get More Customers

    A customer want to do business with people they can trust. How many times have you gone to amazon to buy a DVD player and sorted by most positive reviews? Businesses should already be monitoring product reviews that customers leave on their website or 3rd party websites like Yelp. But many small businesses stop there. Blogs, for example, are a way to grew trust with your customer base. Blogging shows off your product knowledge. Combining that with easy ways to contact  you will generate opportunities and leads. Your contact list will grow for use in newsletter and email campaigns. Remember, one of our goals is to get more customers.

    The technical side will also provide information about your customers. There are various internet analytic tools out there, such as Google Analytics. A customers interest in your products and services can be shown by the number of page views reported in the analytics tool on a specific page.  On the other hand, Google Analytics can also show you which specific pages are lacking visits or even being where customers exit your website.

    Expanding Your Services Online

    Once your business is online, your business is open 24 hours a day. People that were never exposed to your business due to location, time or any other barrier can now find you online. The goal is to get more customers by expanding the audience. Businesses that have been operating locally will expand their customer base to a larger area. More possible customers will lead to expanding your business.

    Customers can come to your website at any hour, read information about your products and services, engage in communication if need be, and finally get that order on the books. This is an affordable investment with little to no increase in staff and high ROI.

    Unique or niche markets benefit greatly from creating a website as they usually have low competition, so their benefits are multiplied.

    Credibility

    15 years ago, marketing a small business took a very different approach. Today, adding a website to a small business shows your small business has certain validity, establishment and the long term feel to it. Established businesses aren’t looking to take your money and run. A business webpage shows stability within the company and organization to maintain the page.

    A website for a small business shows that communicating to its customers is a priority. Being open to questions and feedback shows that the business has more interest that just getting the sale. These are all factors that build trust between the business and its customers, no matter if there is thousands of employees or a small handful. This is why your small business needs a website.

    Austin Webpages is a small Austin based company ready to take your small business online to maximize its marketing potential. Find a website you like the look and feel of, and contact us today!

  • Getting Links to Your Website

    Getting Links to Your Website – The Worlds Largest Poll, the Internet

    Something that all SEO geeks out there can agree on, is that getting links to your website is a great thing. In our last blog about the bad practices SEO companies partake in, we mentioned that the internet is a giant popularity contest. It is the equivalent to the age long saying ..it’s all about who you know. Getting links to your website from high profile websites, say a university and their valuable .edu domain extension, is a great example of the holy grail of backlinks – the links that other people/companies have on their website that point to your page. It is like a celebrity telling their friends that they know you personally…you would be a popular guest anywhere you go.

    I don’t have control of those pages….

    Getting links to your website is not an exact science, has its challenges, but as small business owner you should not get discouraged. Again, in our last blog post about SEO companies and if they are doing a good job, we said there is a bunch of initial work that your SEO company can do to get the ball rolling. Remember, advertising online is going to take time: months and years not days and weeks. Nevertheless there are things we usually recommend business owners to do. We cannot stress this enough, marketing a small business online is a partnership between the owner and your SEO company.

    What Business Owners can do to get website links

    Getting links to your website can be heavily influenced by the owner, especially at the local level. Your online reputation is just as important as your local business reputation or word of mouth. Remember, online, your business is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Thus, you do not need an SEO company to sett up your profiles on the various Yelp and Yellow Pages of the online world. That’s an easy few and each of those review sites will have step by step instructions.

    Google also allows you to setup your business so that it properly shows up on their popular maps webpage, it is easy to sign up for and they verify that you are the owner it by sending you a code in the mail. This is usually one of the first ones you should target.

    You should immediately contact your past customers once your review webpages are up and running and ask for a review of your service on these pages. You are most likely already following up with your past customers looking for possible repeat business or referrals. That is an opportunity for an owner to ask for a review and testimonial online, as it will make it easier to start getting links to your website. Your SEO company might ask for a really good review from one of your customers to glorify on your actual website, but the reputation is going to matter more on 3rd party sites like Yelp, and that is something you can do on your own.

    How can I Increase Website Traffic

    Getting links to your website isn’t the only thing a business owner can do on their own, but they can also start driving some website traffic in the exact manner most local business do today. If your business can accommodate for it, reach out to them and offer something for free. Start an email campaign (and nothing more than once a month) where if they bring a friend with a coupon, which you have to get from the website, you get half off a free meal at your restaurant. They could get a free upgrade, or a free our of service / consulting, you know your business and where there is margin. Post these same coupons on your Cragislist ad (you are posting to Craigslist, right?), that is a great way to start getting links to your website, or at the very least some more visitors.

    Austin Webpages can partner with your small business to increase your customer base in the Austin are. We will start getting links to your website and guiding you with the right direction to grow your website traffic. Find a website you like the look and feel of, and contact us today! Get your past customers contacts ready, and we will make your old business create new business.

    Updated on 9/22/2013