‘Online Marketing’

Marie Grey & Associates is South Africa’s top Professional Speakers Bureau. With more than twenty years’ experience in the industry they have a proven track record of successful bookings and organisation of speaker engagements ranging from conference to inspirational, comedian, sport, and futuristic speaking events.

The company is a formidable player in the public speaking industry. With a professional image and a reputation for excellence, Marie Grey & Associates select their marketing vehicles and partners with care. Since the company has teamed up with iLead Online to manage their online marketing campaigns they have moved from offline media advertising to web marketing only.

Their online success can be contributed to a number of factors including, but not limited to:

• Well designed and professional website.
• Ongoing search engine optimization.
• Flexibility in marketing approach.
• Usage of web statistics and reports for the purpose of identifying keywords, customer preferences, search behaviour, as well as strong and weak points in the marketing strategy.
• Informative and sticky content.
• Client feedback options.
• Several means to contact them.
• News and events section for freshness.
• Careful selection of content.
• Comprehensive information about services.
• Sitemap for additional navigation and for search bots.
• Facebook presence.
• YouTube presence.
• Pay Per Click advertising.
• Affiliate marketing.
• Effective online marketing mix.

iLead Online regularly provides Marie Grey & Associates with progress reports. As such the client stays updated and any changes that need to be made to ensure even better rankings can be discussed. With the iLead Online pro-active approach to search engine marketing, Pay Per Click advertising, and usage of the social media to promote client sites, we can thus identify potential opportunities and pitfalls rather than having to react to changes in search engine algorithms and Internet usage behaviour.

Company Experience With iLead Online

Marie Grey & Associates originally decided to use iLead Online when they conducted an organic search for web marketing companies. Upon reviewing the iLead Online website they found the site to be professional and decided, based on the information provided by iLead Online, to make use of our services. We have since then built a strong working relationship with the company and regard them as one of our top clients.

Marie Grey, founder of the company, has commented that they have experienced a solid increase in speaker bookings since making use of iLead Online as their SEO and web marketing company, and that the ROI rate for web marketing investment is excellent. She furthermore feels that Pay Per Click also provides a good return on investment regarding web marketing spending and will certainly recommend such as an additional channel for online promotion. On the question of whether she will recommend iLead Online as SEO company Marie answered “Absolutely, and I have done so already”.

Marie Grey & Associates has two websites for which monitoring is in place:

www.mariegreyspeakers.com

www.motivational-speakers-sa.co.za

Solid Return On Investment

Both websites perform excellent with an average of 2.85 pages visited per visitor, indicating that the average visitor lands at the website, and clicks on two more pages before making a booking, using the contact details or leaving. With the new Google Panda Algorithm in place, the time spent and pages visited before exiting a website becomes all important. As such the Marie Grey & Associates websites perform well. The average time spent at the .com website is almost three minutes which is superb ensuring no quick exists. With Google’s Panda it becomes essential to have sticky content ensuring that the visitor doesn’t leave within the first minute as such will lead to a drop in rankings at the end of the day if not addressed.

The website marketing techniques work as proven by the average total of new visitors to the site being almost 75%. As such the site traffic is growing month-by-month and brand awareness and new customers are on the increase. More than 82% of all traffic generated to the site comes from organic searches where users type in a keyword phrase and conducts a search relevant to the content of the particular website.

The low bounce rate of the site, the increase in bookings experienced by Marie Grey & Associates, and the time that users spend at the site indicate that the keywords selected and the content generated have been well aligned, and are effective as well as relevant to the user requirements. Just fewer than 8% traffic comes from referring sites which include links, directories and affiliate sites while direct hits account for 11.78% indicating the users already familiar with the web address and returning.

Traffic is sent via search engines through an average of 405 keywords which indicates that the Marie Grey & Associates website is well optimized and rank well for several keywords. Another important consideration when analysing the performance of a website with search engines is the target audience response. Most of the users of the website come from South Africa, which is rather important since the company’s target market is mainly South Africans.  The South African users visit more than three pages on average per visit to the website and with a low bounce rate; it becomes apparent that they find what they are looking for.

Complete Online Marketing Mix

iLead Online follows a complete online marketing mix to ensure maximum exposure, relevant and targeted traffic and an increase in business generation for Marie Grey & Associates. Some of the techniques used include that of:

• Monthly addition of new informative articles to the website written by professional copywriters;
• Strategic link building and additional Google exposure by way of the iLead network of sites;
• Regular sitemap updating and submission to Google; and more.

Marie Grey & Associates is a top performing company and iLead Online takes pride in the development of their online presence. From the information provided it is clear that the SEO and online marketing techniques used by iLead Online provide the desired ROI for client companies. Contact us today to help your company gain a competitive edge in the online world.

It is no surprise that Facebook leads the way into merging of online and offline marketing. Most recently Facebook itself, the Coca-Cola brand and also car manufacturer Renault, made use of Facebook RFID to bring the offline and online worlds together at events with tremendous success.

Reality games played online and in the offline world have been around for quite a while now, but getting the chance to share what you like with your friends online by just swiping your Facebook RFID is something totally different and it is catching on fast.

The line between the offline world and the online world is blurring faster than you can swipe your bank card. With the latest technologies available you have tagging of photos taken offline and sharing those simply by swiping your card and you have mobisites, instant messaging services and ongoing chat rooms.

You find your way around town with the help of Google Maps loaded onto your phone or use an online service to track the whereabouts of your lost phone. Banking is done from your cell phone and money received through Facebook orders with electronic purses such as Monster Pay. For some the world of online and offline marketing is still complex and they are about to become more confused with the latest trend of merging the online and offline worlds.

Facebook Developer Conference

Some examples will make it easier to understand and it is best to start with Facebook first. Attendees at the recent F8 Developer’s Conference received small plastic tokens which were securely fitted to their badges. The secret to the merging of online and offline worlds, however, was not the plastic token, but what was in it. The RFID chip neatly tugged in the token was what made everything so exciting. At the back of the token you could find a unique identification code.

The developers entered their personal codes at the Facebook Presence site and it activated the Facebook RFID. It was with this little token that attendees could use to browse the venue and whatever an attendee liked appeared on their Facebook Profile.

Attendees could become fans of games by simply tapping their Facebook RFID chips against the readers. Sharing experiences with friends became a whole new game.

Coca-Cola Village Amusement Park

When a bunch of teenagers visited the Coca-Cola Village Amusement Park in 2010 they had no idea that they would be one of the first groups of Facebook RFID bracelets. The teenagers each received a bracelet with a RFID chip embedded upon entrance. They had to activate their bracelets and could then login to their Facebook accounts to share which rides they liked and could even tag photos of themselves on rides by simply flashing their bracelets in front of the photo where they wanted to be tagged.

It wasn’t long before every teenager joined in and shared their experiences at the amusement park with their friends online. With this then offline world experiences became online marketing tools in an instant. Publicis E-dologic, an innovative ad agency came up with the idea to join the two worlds together for maximum exposure.

Renault At AutoRAI 2011

At the latest vehicle show in The Netherlands visitors to the show experienced the power of merging offline experiences with the online world of Facebook. Armed with a Facebook RFID, visitors had the chance to share what they Like with their online friends at Facebook. At the front of each Renault you could find a special Facebook pillar. The visitors could hold their Facebook passes in front of the well placed pillars where every car they liked appeared on their Facebook profile.

Who Else Will Benefit From RFID Technology?

The hospitality industry will benefit the most from merging offline and online worlds. Trends suggest that it will soon be possible to connect Blackberries in the same way ensuring that offline experiences can be shared with hundreds of friends rather quickly.

What Is The Secret?

If you simply plan to use technology such as the RFID for the sake of a gimmick you will not reap the benefits. Whatever technology used to merge offline and online worlds should add value to the offline event and be worth the while to share online.

The Perfect Online & Offline Marketing Mix

With all the hype about Facebook as the marketing tool of the future, some business owners have completely moved away from offline marketing. It is a mistake. Although the virtual world is global and gives you endless reach, you still want to ensure that the two comes together. The idea of a website is to:

• Attract attention
• Create more ways for customers to buy from you
• Extend your office hours
• Expand your market beyond your normal boundaries
• Create a convenient method for browsing
• Generate leads for follow-ups
• Increase profits
• Lower overheads

How To Use Online & Offline Marketing Effectively Together

When you use online tools such as “Refer a Friend”, “Subscribe” and of course collect customer details on your Pay Per Click landing pages, you build a large customer base. Auto responders can be used for follow-ups for many months. The trick is to bring the online technology and the offline world together. Whenever you are at an event you should enable visitors to Like your products or services on Facebook with RFID.

In addition you should give them the chance to refer friends, write short reviews there and then about the products and thus build your testimonial database, and also ensure that they can purchase online what they see offline at special prices. Make it worth their while to visit your site where more information is available and give an incentive for referrals and of course, Likes at Facebook.

Get The Full Power of Online And Offline Marketing

The other end of the spectrum must also be considered. You want the visitor to your website to be able to take something from your website to your store. As such special vouchers should be available for printing allowing for discounts when taken in store. In addition you may want the customer to review your offline stores online and notify others through Facebook of amazing products. Get the perfect online and offline marketing mix through effective merging of the two worlds. Contact us to help you bring reality and virtual reality together for optimal exposure.

The newest marketing tool that has hit the online marketing world is the virtual actor or virtual sales person. You don’t have to have an animated avatar, but can have a rather real life looking cyber actor introduce your website and its contents to the visitor.

Why Buy Into The Concept Of Virtual Actors For Online Marketing?

Users want interactivity and often struggle to navigate through websites, especially comprehensive websites with various options. Helping the user by means of audio is one way, but getting more personal, takes online marketing to a whole new level. The cyber actors or virtual sales persons can be compared to someone greeting a shopper at the counter or perhaps acting as guide through a resort. People want to know that they are not interacting with computers alone. They need some personalisation because we now live in a world where distance is placed between the supplier and the customer. Virtual actors or sales persons who are professionally dressed and speak with real human voices help to bridge the distance.

How Does It Work?

Saying real life may just be a bit confusing. The cyber characters are still animated, but sure do look like the real persons. You as the website owner will create the wording and where and when you want the virtual sales persons to appear. You can even have the avatar walk around, point to products and show a bit of humour. Facial expressions are possible and as such the user gets the feeling of interacting with a real person. Should the user want a question answered you can add little question boxes and also immediate contact boxes. On the other end you can have a call centre agent ready to answer and explain.  The virtual sales person is another one of your team members with the difference being that the cyber character sells to the online audience. It is a definite enhancement to the website and one online marketing tool that can set your website apart from that of competitors in the same industry.

More Convenience For The Customer

Users get tired of having to read through one sales letter after the other. If you want your Pay Per Click sales conversion levels to increase then a virtual sales person waiting on the landing page will do the trick. Instead of the user having to read through endless wording, you can have a friendly virtual sales person talk to the user and do the selling. As such virtual actors and cyber sales persons are ideal for sales landing pages. The virtual character relates to the specific audience and creates trust, something that a sales letter simply cannot always achieve.

More Applications For The Virtual Characters:

• Add a cyber character to an auction site.
• Use an avatar as host to a games site.
• Let a virtual actor introduce new concepts.

Some Of The Advantages Of Using Cyber Characters For A Website:

• Loads fast ensuring that the user gets immediate response.
• Creates a personal touch.
• Saves the user time as the user doesn’t have to read through long pieces of information.
• Especially helpful for users who have reading disabilities or who have difficulty seeing on computers screens.
• Helpful to the blind web users.
• Makes a site more accessible to a wider audience.

How To Add A Cyber Character To Your Website:

• Download a virtual actor software package from the Internet.
• You can find such cyber character packages by doing a search at Google for “cyber character” or “virtual actors” or “website avatars” or “speaking character for websites”.
• As an alternative let an online marketing company such as iLead create the characters and upload to your site.
• Select the avatar or virtual actor that you want to use and customize the cyber character.
• You can add accessories or change the clothing and hairstyle of the virtual salesperson or spokesperson.
• Record the avatar script and ensure correct voice usage.
• Generate the HTML coding and ensure that it is inserted at the correct places in your site.

It is important to speak in an audible voice and ensure that the speed of the conversation will be correct. You don’t want the recording to sound like a computer or unprofessional. If you don’t have the correct voice for the job, get the help from a professional online marketing company to ensure that the whole process of creating a professional website avatar is done correctly.

Cyber Actors or Characters and SEO

One of the questions that website owners have is whether the use of cyber actors will not influence their search engine rankings and the optimization process. Virtual characters speak in audible voices. Their conversations are not yet searchable by search engines. As such virtual characters should be used in conjunction with text. Some persons may still want text on the page and search engines require text. You will thus still need articles, blogs, press releases, newsletters, and keyword optimization, but the website virtual characters will create interactivity, save time for the user and help to boost online sales. As such the virtual actors will not take the place of text, but rather become guides, sales people, and hosts. A professional online marketing company such as iLead Online can help you create the website virtual sales persons, place them at the correct pages, and optimize the pages to ensure that there will still be enough text for the search engines.

If you have a dynamic web page, which is one that uses the client server scripts to ensure that the content displayed reflects the personal preferences of the user, you may find it difficult to optimize the web pages for good search engine placement. Fortunately it is possible by adding for instance, a static sitemap to the complete website and ensuring that you have a blog where new searchable content is created on a regular basis. Links from affiliate websites also improve the ranking of the site ensuring that even when you have a shopping or Web 2.0 site that the site will still be able to rank well. One should understand that the website virtual characters are online marketing help tools and not optimization tools. The SEO team will continue to optimize the pages for best search engine placement. Get going with cyber speaking characters and actors. Get professional help from the online marketing team at iLead. Contact us to help you create your very own virtual website assistant for better sales conversions.

Jungle Gym World was established in 2007 by André Ferreira and has since then grown from being a small player in the playground equipment industry to a formidable competitor receiving orders from Lesotho, Mozambique, Botswana and even from Hong Kong and nationally. The company is now employer to more than 47 workers. Online marketing is credited for the growth of the company to have become one of the largest steel gym manufacturers and suppliers in the country the past five years.

Jungle Gym World has grown into a formidable competitor in jungle gym equipment over the years using three marketing channels:

• Online marketing which includes a complete marketing mix of Search Engine Optimization (noted by the owner André, as one of the most important reasons for their online success), Pay Per Click advertising, banner ads, article writing and content generation, as well as traffic monitoring.
• Online affiliate marketing where leads are gained from iLead affiliate pages.
• Passive advertising in the printed Yellow Pages.

From the above it becomes clear that Jungle Gym World has increased its exposure and brand awareness by means of the Internet rather than using offline media which is more expensive and can only reach a limited number of people. One of the most important reasons noted for the company’s tremendous success is their ongoing Internet based advertising.

Their website receives on average between 6000 and 7000 visits a month, and all are highly relevant. Getting so many people, who are interested specifically in playground equipment to your website, means that your online marketing methods must work. iLead Online has proven that SEO is essential in increasing search engine visibility and should be the first step in online marketing.

According to André, around 99% of their clients come from the Internet. With thousands of suppliers on the Internet in specifically outdoor play equipment, the company had to ensure that its site would be noticed and more important would result in online sales. Because of this marketing strategy, the company could be more focussed on production of top quality products because iLead has taken the responsibility to ensure a regular stream of visitors, leads, and content for increasing sales conversions.

Important Factors For Online Success

Jungle Gym World has not focussed one only one aspect of online marketing, but several. With only the minimum effort required from Jungle Gym World, iLead Online has ensured ongoing success by using:

• Search engine optimization.
• Article writing by experienced copywriters to ensure credible content that is useful to readers and search engine friendly.
• Incoming link building.
• Blog creation for marketing in the social media environment and reaching more Internet users.
• Pay Per Click advertising management for direct sales leads.
• Creation of landing pages.
• Constant website visitor traffic monitoring.
• Banner ad creation and placing thereof at iLead Online affiliate pages.

Five new pages are added to the article base monthly ensuring that content increases and more visibility are gained regarding organic search engines. Proof is in the stats.

Link Popularity

Link popularity shows the number of websites and search engines linking to a website. The more relevant incoming links from a major search engine and directories, the more doors to a website, and also better ranking.

The Jungle Gym World website has 346 incoming links from Yahoo! which is a major search engine for their co.za domain and 872 for their .com domain. Other search engines sending links to Jungle Gym World are that of Google, Ananzi and Bing. The focus on major search engines has proven to be effective. Google has sent 3617 visits in February 2011 as part of organic searches and 150 referral visits. The website shows only 36% bounce rate, which is excellent. This means that 74% of the visitors explore other web pages on the site before exiting by placing an order.

Visitor Stats

Demographics of the users play an important role in the return on investment when it comes to marketing. Marketing to users which fall outside the scope of your business is indeed money lost. It is never possible to not also receive international visitors if your market is only one country, but you want the majority of visitors to come from within the preferred geographical boundaries. Jungle Gym World has an excellent return on investment because the majority of visits to their website originate from within South Africa and more specifically Gauteng with visits from Pretoria, Sandton and Johannesburg being the most. The site also receives visits from Cape Town and then neighbouring countries, accounting for the successful expansion of its market into neighbouring countries.

Origin Of Traffic

The site receives 64.67% from its traffic from search engines and 3.35% from referring sites while direct hits account for only 31.98%. The site ranks top for several of the main keywords, ensuring that whenever an Internet user searches for playground equipment related terms that Jungle Gym World comes up in the top five results and in many instances is at position 1 to 3. The ROI is all important, and according to André, without the online marketing efforts of iLead and thus the Internet based activity, Jungle Gym World would not exist.

So successful is the company that it is now one of the largest and best known play equipment manufacturers in Southern Africa with regular requests from the USA and important manufacturing countries in Asia. Becoming a major player in the educational and outdoor equipment industry by making use of the Internet as main marketing vehicle and thus also the most cost-effective, is possible if you follow the route that Jungle Gym World did. It is perhaps one of the most inspiring stories on the web and with a longstanding relationship with iLead Online; Jungle Gym World is growing day by day.

So successful is Jungle Gym World that André has been asked on occasion to address a Google and related conferences on the topic of their online success. According to owner, André, a website can be compared to a bottle of water in the desert. The resource is there, but it must be found and for that a map is needed. Online marketing including SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing, link building, and content generation creates the paths to the resource. If done right, Internet marketing, as done through iLead Online, guarantees an excellent return on your marketing investment. Contact us at iLead Online to help you gain the same success through online marketing.

Integrated Technical Services known, as ITS Africa, is a well-known industrial and commercial cleaning equipment supplier in South Africa with a large customer base. The company is also a distributor of the famous Kärcher products.

The ITS client base includes the likes of large mining companies and projects such as the Gautrain cleaning contract. The company operates in an extremely competitive environment also when it comes to carwash and carpet cleaning equipment. Competition on high level also means that competitors invest a lot in marketing, especially online marketing. This in turn leads to extreme keyword and ranking competition. Getting to the first five search result ranks for one of the main keywords is a rather impressive feat and more so to stay at the position or to improve the position.

ITS Africa, as an award-winning cleaning equipment supplier and service provider to large enterprises in South Africa, recognises the importance of a flexible, yet, well planned online marketing strategy. With that in mind the company under leadership has partnered with iLead Online to ensure that it can gain and keep a competitive edge in the online environment. The company recently received the South Africa Distributor of the Year Award from two major suppliers. It is an impressive accomplishment indeed. Part of their distributor success has to do with their marketing and customer relationship building strategies. Both strategies include a solid online presence and user-friendly websites packed with information on the various products and brands.

Online Marketing Strategy And Performance

ITS makes use of Pay Per Click Advertising in addition to affiliate marketing, link building, search engine optimisation and content generation services offered by iLead. Their service package thus consists of a complete marketing mix ensuring that they gain maximum online exposure and visitor traffic to their website. In addition to the above the following areas are also exploited in terms of online marketing:

• Interactive blog allowing for short posts about specific services offered by the company.
• Website banner ads at strategic places.
• Newsfeed on the main page allowing for constant news updates on the latest developments.
• Facebook advertising and business profile development.
• YouTube Channel for video marketing and building of links.
• Opt-in Mailing List for news & specials.
• Newsletter to build credibility and keep clients informed

Links Increase

The ITS Africa website had 135 incoming links in June 2010. Within only a few months iLead succeeded in building an additional 126 links bringing the total incoming links to 261 for February 2011. Ranking is directly influenced by the number of value added and relevant links and as such the incoming links have helped to improve search engine ranking.

Organic Search Results

The website is performing well on the organic search results for most of their main keywords, considering how competitive the market is in terms of their specific keywords. Co-owner of ITS Africa, Wayne Mulder, commented that although the website is not within the first three search results for some of the important keywords that it is on its way there and since search engine marketing is a long term and gradual process, it is worth the investment. Being on the first page is absolutely essential if one hopes to get a major chunk of the visitor traffic, and lying within the first five definitely helps. The goal is to get to position two or three in the near future.

Pay Per Click Advertising

While the website is still climbing the ranks in terms of some main keywords, it is doing exceptionally well on the PPC front with tremendous click through conversions. The combination of organic search with a PPC campaign strategy managed by iLead is delivering the desired visitor and conversion results. Out of 10411 clicks in February 2011 there were 1061 visits. When interviewed about his website success, Wayne answered that PPC is a more controllable tool which is definitely a must have for immediate results. Pay per click offers the benefit of a user already being in the market for the specific product or service and not only browsing for information. With this then, PPC is used to compliment the traffic drive to their website.

Leads

According to Wayne iLead has helped to ensure a constant flow of incoming leads. Not all result in sales, but are still important for brand building and customer mailing list development. Every relevant lead is important and with a definite increase in leads experienced, the company is 100% satisfied with the iLead strategies and professional lead building techniques.

Report Back & Future Trends

With the marketing mix strategy that iLead follows, the client can expect a solid return on investment into online marketing. Additional channels which are still to be exploited fully include that of viral marketing, YouTube, and social media brand development, all planned for the future.

Client Perspective Of iLead

The company provides excellent service and staff is available 24/7 to assist with any queries. One can trust in the professionalism of iLead. Even though iLead has other clients in the same industry, the company gives 100% to each client and upholds the integrity of the relationship. ITS Africa experiences the search engine marketing relationship as one based on trust. iLead is committed to client service and the building of long term relationships. It is this commitment that ensures complete dedication by the search engine specialists and staff. It is a reliable company that delivers on its promises to clients.

In Summary

ITS Africa is one of the leading commercial and industrial cleaning companies in South Africa. The company makes extensive use of online marketing to expand its markets and to ensure brand awareness. iLead works in close relationship with ITS to extend the reach of the company by ensuring well planned search engine optimisation, a flexible approach to Internet marketing, and transparency in its marketing approach. With this approach followed and a professional relationship with the client, iLead continues to develop strategies for optimal visibility, online branding, and the ultimate return on investment for ITS Africa. Contact us to develop an online marketing strategy that will suit your particular advertising needs.