‘SEO’

Google Panda is the name of the new algorithm used by Google to index pages and also to ban and move pages down the search results. Dewaldt Huysamen of iLead Online recently compiled a report named “SEO Update On Google’s Top Secret Google Panda’s Algo Change” based on the findings of Michael Campbell who gave 19 pointers on how to ensure that your website remains in the top search results even with the new Google Panda lurking in the woods.

Search engine optimization is a fine and dynamic art. Just as human search and Internet usage behaviour changes over time as they adapt to new additions to the online environment, search engines, including the likes of Google, change their algorithms to ensure the most relevant search results for the user. Google attempts to give the user value for their search time through the implementation of the Google Panda Algorithm.

Why The Need For Google Panda?

It never takes long for SEOs to catch up with new algorithms and unfortunately the spammers and black hat SEOs are even faster. They are the opportunists of the online world, taking what is meant to be good for everyone and turning it into a tool that gives them an unfair advantage. Make no mistake – advantage is what you should strive for, but not when it involves unethical behaviour that can cause the search engine to change its algorithm into a rather angry Google Panda that becomes aggressive to keep the status quo. Since the spammers and the black hatters will always be around, the average website owner has to do some work to prevent being categorised in the same category as the unscrupulous black hatters.

What Is Important According To Google Panda?

The normal SEO stays in place. Keyword density must be checked, spelling and grammar should be up to standard and useful sticky content must be provided. The article directories and article farms were hit exceptionally hard because the feeling is that the content at these sites is not worth the search. Still good for building incoming links, these article directories unfortunately are also filled with user generated content with loads of ads, making it difficult to read the content. Problem is that users leave the sites and have to redo their searches.

Duplicate content and no meat are two more reasons for citing the above as below standard sources of information. With Google being the number one search engine and also an excellent income generator for AdSense entrepreneurs, article directories have become big business. Three blocks of ads can be placed with every article and since the user may find the content to be useless, the ads become all the more attractive, leading to clicks and of course, money in the bank for the AdSense generator.

In effect then, Google is also guilty in creating the culture of serving up junk and had to do something to level the playing field again and taking out the junk. Google Panda is their answer to this problem.

How To Stay On The Friendly Side Of Google Panda

The main focus should be to retain visitors at your site. This doesn’t mean getting the users to your site and then trapping them. Indeed, such behaviour will make Google Panda your enemy. The answer lies in good quality content. You have heard it all before, but now the content must be super relevant and of exceptional value. Google Panda basically works on the principle of checking how long a visitor stays at a site before returning to the search page to find a more relevant match for their query. Without getting bogged down in detail – Google checks user behaviour. It may come as a surprise, but your every move on the search engine is closely monitored. No need to switch off the computer as the tracking is done simply to enhance the search engine and to ensure that you will find relevant pages when typing in a search.

Practical Points

Google Panda considers the following in addition to the other 200 SEO factors to be important:

• Feedback from users – still considered in a way, but may change in future.
• Bounce rate – how long a visitor stays at a particular web page before hitting the back button and doing another search.
• The number of ads displayed on a page – if there are too many ads, and especially ads not meeting the standard such as blinking ones and ads loading slowly, the Google Panda algorithm kicks in.
• Auto generated content – if the website contains too many pages of auto or syndicated content it can lead to a lower rank.
• Spelling and grammar should be correct as incorrect usage of language can be an indication of article spinning and also of low quality content.
• Design of the page – loading time is the keyword here.
• Outgoing links – pages with too many links out will be penalized.
• Duplicate content – even on your own pages will lead to penalization.
• Getting a top ten result for a keyword phrase spread over several pages is considered scaly.

What You Can Do To Stay On The Best Side Of Google Panda

Apart from changing your website to ensure that you stay within the Google Panda boundaries as indicated above, you should ensure that the visitor stays longer than the average 57 seconds at your site. You want to ensure that the visitor’s attention will be grabbed for at least 60 seconds and as such will benefit from using the following techniques:

• Avoid the usage of clipart and unprofessional graphics. You want to build confidence which will not be the case when using outdated blinking clipart and animation.
• Use colours wisely. You want to improve readability and as such should stay clear of a light font colour on dark backgrounds. Keep in mind that people get tired easily when having to read blurry content which is exactly what happens when you have a light font on a dark background.
• Keep outgoing links to a minimum – you want the user to stay with you for just a bit longer.
• Use Verdana instead of Arial or Helvetica fonts which were meant for bus stop signs rather than for computer readability.
• Avoid heavy navigation which will confuse the user and tempt them to hit the back button. It can also lead to slow loading times – which can be detrimental if you want a low bounce rate.
• Use narrow column widths such as 60 characters and keep the font at 12 points to ensure maximum readability.
• Create super quality and attention grabbing content which will ensure positive feedback.
• Structure pages well to ensure that any auto content will be separated and not indexed.
• Check high bounce rate pages and change the content. Even one page with a high bounce rate can affect your site’s ranking.
• Don’t ignore the importance of the legal pages such as Privacy Statement, Terms & Conditions, and Disclaimers. Group them together under the About Us section.
• Ensure that your site only features high quality ads.
• Use photos instead of clipart and only include such when adding value to the story.
• Add sticky content. This means a video where relevant to keep visitors at your site for longer.

Review your website for the above factors. If you need help in getting into Google Panda’s good books or should we say, the best side of the Panda tree, get in contact with us at iLead Online to ensure that your website does more than meet the requirements – it should flourish in the Google Panda world.

The New Consumer Protection Act No. 68 of 2008 as signed in 2009, known by many as the CPA, has changed the business to client relationship considerably. In the past the consumer had to prove wrongdoing or lack of service on the part of the service provider, but with the New Consumer Protection Act it is now the responsibility of the business to prove that the service has been as advertised and that goods supplied are up to standard.

For the business owner, and then of course, also the website owner the Consumer Protection Act has a lot of implications. You should know that when selling a product online or in your store that the consumer will have up to six months to return goods which have been deemed unsafe or faulty. Guarantees will thus be for a minimum period of six months. You, as the supplier, will not have the choice anymore. The consumer can demand replacement, repairs or a full refund. As supplier you are still protected against negligence by the consumer.

Be careful with delivery promises. If you advertise a delivery date when selling online, you must keep to that date. If a consumer purchases a report online, and the website stipulates delivery within 48 hours, the website owner or company will have to keep to that date because the user can reject the product if the product is not as expected and can cancel the purchase agreement if the delivery doesn’t take place within 48 hours. As such online sellers need to ensure that they stipulate delivery times that they can keep.

Consumers, according to the Consumer Protection Act, now also have the right to demand an estimated cost for repairs of a product or a service and the service company must keep to that estimate. The consumer must approve of the estimate and should the work needed be more than originally estimated, the company must inform the consumer and get approval before going ahead.

Selling online seems to be safer for the company than selling through the mail or via telemarketing since the consumer has the right not to be harassed through telephone calls and mailings on specific days of the year and time of day. If a person has placed their name on the marketing blocking list, telemarketers may not contact or solicit them with any advertising or options according to the CPA. If you send out electronic mail with direct marketing messages, you need to take note that consumers have up to five business days to cool off after they have bought a product as the result of your direct marketing efforts. You will have 15 days to refund them provided they return the goods first.

According to the Consumer Protection Act, there will no longer be automatic renewals of service contracts. In the past cellphone companies simply kept on billing the consumer if the consumer did not cancel the cellphone contract after the contract expiring date. It is no longer the case. The company must contact the user and give the user the option of keeping with the contract, cancelling it or changing the terms of the contract. The month-to-month basis used by many cellphone companies stays in place until the consumer chooses not to have the contract.

Any consumer can now end a contract, such as a cellphone contract, before the expiry date if the consumer is unhappy with the service as long as the consumer, according to the terms of the Consumer Protection Act, gives the company written notice of a period of twenty days. It should be noted as a service provider, the company must contact the consumer before the expiration date of the contract to offer the consumer a choice. The consumer is still responsible for payment of amounts up to cancellation date.

With the New Consumer Protection Act in place from 31 March 2011, consumers have the right to get products in good working order. Should there be any defects even on second hand products, one must inform the buyer of such and the buyer must consent to purchasing the product in such a condition. In the online world you can thus not place a classified ad or sell a product “voetstoots” at Bid or Buy without informing the potential buyer of all the defects and the exact condition of the item.

According to the CPA, suppliers may not discriminate against consumers in the sense that they limit products or services to a specific group of consumers. Free market doesn’t mean setting prices as you want. The consumer has the right to fair priced goods. This means that a company cannot buy up all the stock such as for instance, energy savers, and then set a high price for the goods. The products must be reasonably priced. One cannot for instance, sell a report online that consists of only a few pages for an exuberant price. The price must be in line with the value of the item.

Online marketers and website owners need to take note of the privacy rights of consumers. Unsolicited email, thus spam, has always been a no-no, but website owners bypassed the ethical rules by having an opt-out option. The consumer, according to the privacy rights stipulated in the Consumer Protection Act, has the right not to receive unsolicited emails. If you want to introduce your website to a consumer, then search engine optimisation and pay per click advertising will be the best route ensuring that the consumer finds you and then opts in to receive electronic mail. Once a consumer has opted out on a newsletter, the website owner must ensure that the user doesn’t receive emails from them after such.

Goods and services delivered in an unsolicited manner may be refused by the consumer and the consumer can also retain such goods or services after 20 business days have passed. Online marketing is thus also affected by the Consumer Protection Act. Although the terms may seem a bit harsh for suppliers of goods and services, we are all consumers in one way or another. As such the protection is to the benefit of all; it will mean careful consideration of online marketing techniques and wording of sales letters, but at the end of the day, the marketplace should be fairer because of the Consumer Protection Act. Contact us at iLead to help you reach consumers in an ethical manner through sound SEO and online marketing techniques.

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.