The third episode of SmallBizTV is proudly sponsored by PMZ Marketing and is about Search Engine Optimisation (with tips from Glenn Murray and his brilliant ebook, SEO Secrets – The DIY Guide to Topping Google, and increasing your sales conversions.

We are also looking for sponsors of upcoming episodes. The sponsorship package includes a 30 second video commercial at the start of the episode as well as branding and links back to your website. The potential reach of this sponsorship is more than 8,000 subscribers of our blog and makes for great value for a small business. If you are interested in sponsoring upcoming episodes, please email me nick@thebowditchgroup.com.

So here it is, the third episode of SmallBizTV:

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Did you know … that there are up to 1 billion videos uploaded to YouTube every day? And the it would take almost 500 years to watch every single video hosted on the YouTube platform today? That’s a huge potential audience – do they know about your brand yet? If you would like me to help you with launching a YouTube channel and making it work for your business, call me TODAY on 02 4324 2594 or email me nick@thebowditchgroup.com.

Stay tuned for the next episode of SmallBizTV.

Have you read Glenn Murray’s ebook, SEO Secrets? Or do you have some other tips on Search Engine Optimisation or increasing your sales conversions?

Please let us know in the comments below. When you leave a comment on this site, it appears straight away – no signing up, no waiting for the comment to be moderated – it will appear below straight after you have posted it.

Google has made some changes to their search pages and there has been some talk among bloggers and web development people about whether they are even relevant.

One of the changes is the introduction of the ‘Updates Search’.

This feature basically filters the organic search results and displays them, instead of in terms of a traditional ranking as defined by the Google algorithm, in chronological order, making the search results more like the real-time results you get if you used something like Twitter Search on a particular topic or set of keywords.

So how is this relevant?

Today, there was a glitch in the editing system of Facebook Pages. As it would happen, today is the day that I had planned updates on about 5 or 6 of my clients’ Facebook Pages so it was very frustrating. Even more frustrating, was the fact that Facebook hadn’t told the world anything of the glitch as they presumably scrambled to fix it.

So I turned to Google, and in particular the Updates Search within Google. Searching for the phrase “cant edit facebook pages” returned this result:

So, while it didn’t do much to relieve my frustration, at least I knew I wasn’t the only one unable to edit the pages.

The problem has since been resolved this afternoon and I have been able to do the updates on the Facebook Pages as I had planned for today.

The other ways you can now search for things on Google apart from Updates include discussions, images, maps and videos (which have been there for ages) and news, books and blogs.

Do you regularly use any of these search filters and if so, how? Please let us know in the comments. You don’t have to sign up or join anything to comment, just leave your comment below and it will appear on the post straight away.

We keep hearing more and more about Google’s alternative to Facebook, Google Me. There is still no official word from Google whether this platform is even a real project but where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire right?

If it’s true and really in the final stages of development, it won’t be the first foray into the social networking space for Google. They tried before with Orkut and the promising but ultimately irrelevant Buzz, and neither of them achieved anywhere near the dizzy heights of Twitter and Facebook.

My question is though, does the world really have room for another Facebook? What can be achieved from introducing another social networking platform, especially since, by all accounts, Google Me will basically reflect the Facebook model almost identically.

At the very least, Google Me will need to take some of Facebook’s market share to survive, grow and stay releant – the social media pie is only so big.

What do you guys think? Is there room for another social networking giant? Or will Facebook gobble up Google Me the same way it has gobbled up the likes of MySpace?

There are basically two types of blogs employed by most online businesses these days – those embedded as a link inside the main website, or those which are separate to the main website but are linked to from the menu of that site.

The principle, though, is basically the same.

A blog, literally short for web log, is a great way to achieve good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) by having regularly updated content. It also provides a more personal aspect to your online presence which people may be more likely to follow and want to be updated on.

With around 120 million blogs circulating around the ‘blogosphere’, blogging is now starting to gain some serious credibility – and some serious exponents with quite a few bloggers now making their living solely from blogging.

So why should you want to blog? If for no other reason than it keeps your content fresh, dynamic and interesting. It engages visitors to your site to not only read your ponderings but also interact with and comment on them – Google loves this!

Secondly, having a blog that is insightful, interesting and most importantly focussed on your niche specialty that you know a lot about, goes a long way to establishing you as an expert in your field. It’s really important to be able to position yourself as somebody that people should listen to about your specific topic – your business.

Nobody knows your business better than you. At the moment, however, practically nobody knows you! Perception is everything and even if you are not a world-famous pioneer in your industry, if you write content as if you are, nobody will ever argue.

Content is king. You will hear that again and again and it’s because it’s true. The more content you have on your website (and through your social networking platforms) the more Google will index you, the more keyword-rich your online presences will be, and the more visitors you will get to your site which will eventually make your business grow.

Obviously writing the content is important but there are other more subtle things about the writing you need to concentrate on as well, and the difference between a well-read post and an ignored post, even if the content and the quality is exactly the same, can be the headline.

Let’s say you own a gym and you want to blog about your services to increase the traffic to your website which will then increase your memberships.

You could write a piece on let’s say, safe exercise for pregnant women. As you write the piece, keep in mind the person who will read it. If the heading appeals to them, that’s the first hurdle.

With headings, I stick to three difference angles that have worked really well for me: make a list, explain how to, and share a secret.

Making A List

“The top 11 safe exercises for pregnant women” – engages the reader because they obviously don’t want to know the 17 worst exercises for pregnant women to do. Human nature is to not only make lists in our head but to be compelled to read other ones – and for some reason odd numbers work best!

Explaining How To

“How to exercise safely when pregnant” – appeals to readers because of a natural curiosity, after all they are reading your blog because they want more information, and people want to get their information from experts in that field – which is, of course, you.

Sharing A Secret

“The secret to exercising safely when pregnant” – appeals to that part in all of our brain that wants to have something exclusive of others. While it’s true that a million people could read the same post, the reader still feels like they are hearing something not only for the first time, but written specifically for them.

These kinds of headings not only pique people’s interest more but search engines love them!

Jeremy Schoemaker, probably the most famous and most successful blogger and affiliate advertising specialist of recent times, outlines nine steps (odd number see?) to creating articles that attract readers and increase sales.

His first step is also to write headline that arouse curiosity, and he says you only need to pick up a tabloid or teen magazine to see how it works, they are always wanting you to know 37 ways you can please your girlfriend like never before or how you can drop 5 waist sizes before summer, celebrity tells all, or the 12 secrets that funeral homes don’t want you to know.

Jeremy says, “People are naturally curious, so use reverse psychology to draw them in. Your ‘insiders guide’ gives them what they’re not supposed to know. It’s top secret, in fact. So maybe the government, your spouse, your doctor, or someone else doesn’t want you to know – and therefore, it must be juicy!”

Another way to make your blogs stand out is to be a bit controversial. I don’t mean Perez Hilton-controversial (although his blog certainly stands out), but don’t just write about the same stuff everyone else in your niche is writing about – or if you do, maybe take a different opinion than theirs into your writing.

Let’s use the gym analogy again. If there are already a few blog posts on the safest way for pregnant women to exercise, why not write a post explaining why pregnant women should not exercise? You have to find something that’s interesting to people – even if it goes against what they particularly want to hear.

With that in mind, my number one tip for creating content is to blog honestly. If you are trying to shock or be controversial or go against the mainstream thinking on a certain topic – and you don’t believe it – that will come out in your writing. Likewise, if you really do believe the opposite view on a topic to most people and blog about that, it will be genuine to people.

Keep some human frailty in your writing and people will be interested, if not always happy.

So to make your blog stand out, get read and increase more traffic to your website and business, remember a few key points: blog often, blog honestly, don’t be afraid to be a bit controversial (as long as you are being honest), write about popular or topical current events, make lists, explain how to and share ‘secrets’.

If you are interested in finding out how I can help you grow your business by blogging, or for a obligation-free consultation, call me TODAY on 02 4324 2594.

Have you had success starting a blog for your business? Have I missed any important points? Please let us know in the comments below.

I know that sounds a little dramatic, but in a lot of ways this e-book really did save my business from going down the tubes, and I will always be grateful for coming across it.

The e-book is called, “SEO Secrets, The DIY Guide to Topping Google” by well-known SEO Copywriter, Glenn Murray.

Before I read the book and implemented all of Glenn’s simple, easy to follow instructions, the website for my travel business, Nick Bowditch Travel – Australia’s Family Travel Expert, was ranking on the 5th or 6th pages of Google search results which basically meant I was ranking nowhere – and I was losing money hand over fist.

Five months after taking all of the advice in the book, I was ranking on the first page for the very competitive keyphrase “family travel” and then just six months after I read the book, we topped the Google ranking for the keyphrase for the first time.

That began a very happy period for the travel business as we got more and more enquiries coming directly from random searches on Google – a period that still continues today thanks to that one e-book.

It is 213 pages of ‘no-fluff’ serious Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) advice and it is written so that anyone can follow the step-by-step instructions to the letter.

If you are a small business owner and you would like your website to be ranking better on the biggest search engine in the world (and who wouldn’t?), seriously make a sound business decision and get this book. It is the best $79.95 you will invest in your business. And I should know, it literally saved mine!

“It’s just called “The Bible” now – we dropped the word “Holy” to give it a more mass-market appeal” Hodder & Stoughton, Publisher

Social media and social networking change so quickly and so often that I was worried about writing this post, fearing that by the time you read it, everything I say in it will already be obsolete.

Twitter has only been around since 2006, Facebook only a bit before that. Google has become one of the largest and most important online tools but only as far back as 1995, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin hadn’t even met yet.

Blogs and futurists’ websites are full of “the next big thing” but even a lot of them didn’t even see a success story like Twitter coming.

David Silver, a venture capitalist and author of 30 books on entrepreneurship and finance, in his book “Smart Start-Ups” write, “I’m not at all optimistic about the staying power of MySpace and Facebook.”

He goes on to say, “Other than providing a playground for young people to meet and communicate, I question the economic durability of MySpace and Facebook, which need to segue to a mobile phone-based model pretty soon, before a newcomer captures that highly lucrative market from them.”

That was published in 2007.

Silver had it half-right. The social networking sites DID need to morph into a mobile-ready platform which they have done, but I think few would doubt the economic viability of an entity like Facebook today.

Not only that, but social networking has now become so much more than a ‘playground for young people’ with people aged from 50-65 being one of the fastest growing demographics for Facebook.

My point is that David Silver is not a mug. He is an astutely clever man who is a world-renowned expert in futurism and know what is going to work.

But just a few years ago in 2007, not even he could have seen the growth in relevance of social media.

So, if you are part of the online marketing community, what will be the trends you will need to know about in 2010?

Mobile Marketing

Whether it means including a plug-in for your website that makes it more visible and more usable on a mobile device, or changing the functionality of your site altogether to include features that can only be accessed using a mobile device, you are going to need to embrace mobile marketing if you are to compete.

In an era where more than 60% of businesses are banning social networking applications in their offices and on their computing hardware AND when every other person seems to have a smartphone or other web-ready portable device, mobile marketing is now more important than ever before.

Competitions and marketing devices aimed solely at users of mobile devices are becoming more widespread and this could be a great way to capture that mobile market in 2010.

Localised Applications

The natural flow-on from this kind of accessibility is more localised applications and local adaptations of currently available platforms.

For instance, Twitter, which has 80% of its usage happening on mobile devices, has recently introduced regional trending as opposed to a blanket world-wide trending feature on its platform.

This basically means that as well as knowing what people are talking about on Twitter world-wide, you can also now see what people based in your own country – or even in your own city – are talking about.

A great new example of a local application is foursquare and it is rapidly gaining popularity.

foursquare works by adding an application to your smartphone (or you can use the web-based version if you don’t have a smartphone) and then letting users ‘check in’ or in other words, telling the application exactly where you are at that moment.

Users can then recommend a local cafe, restaurant or business where they currently are, which in turn allows your friends who are also using the application to learn more about the places you visit.

foursquare’s plan is to build a database of knowledge on local areas so that when you follow someone’s recommendation and go and visit that place as well, there are already a list of other things to do: parks to check out, cafes to eat at and so on.

The application also rewards its frequent users with a series of badges and points that they accrue the more often they visit certain places in certain towns.

You can even become the virtual ‘mayor’ of a certain town, precinct or business. This basically means that you have checked-in at that place more than anyone else and you can retain the title until someone else visits more than you.

In their own words: “It may sound a little silly until you see the list of places that are offering freebies to our mayors – free coffees, free ice-cream, free hotel stays – it pays to be a foursquare loyalist and check-in whenever you go!”

Portable Identification

With people signing up to more and more different social networking and online applications, it can get pretty difficult to remember your username and password for each one. Particularly when one app will let you use all letters for your password and others require you to use letters and numbers and so on.

Thankfully, there are a few different applications now that let you sign in to them using your log in ID for another application. The two most famous of these up to now have been OpenID and Google (the fact that Google seems to own everything these days helps that a lot also).

With an OpenID you can log in to thousands of different websites without the hassle of having to remember multiple usernames and passwords, instead signing in using the same information.

Another big mover in this space in 2010 will be Facebook Connect, the application within Facebook that lets developers access Facebook users’ identity, social graph and activity stream. Facebook boasts that when website owners integrate Facebook Connect into their own website the results are pretty impressive. They claim websites can get 15-20% more comments, 15-20% more registered users, up to 15% more traffic and up to 20% more time spent on their site. Facebook Connect is also free.

* In a recent address, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberh announced there would be some changes coming to Facebook Connect this year but at this stage it is still functioning as it always has been.

When you combine that information with a service like Gravatar, you can also control how the world sees you, literally, when commenting on blog sites and so on.

You upload a picture of yourself and then when you make a comment on a blog or other interactive site using the same log in details, that picture automatically becomes your avatar on that particular site.

All the tweets, posts and updates in one place

One of the annoying things about social networking, and in particular participating as a member in multiple social networking platforms, is the magnitude of the information that each platform processes – let alone trying to read it all.

In 2010, the emphasis will be more on combining all of your news feeds into one place, similar to how I use FriendFeed.

With the FriendFeed site, you are able to make user lists and discussions, but without restricting it to just one platform.

On my FriendFeed page, I see people’s updates from Twitter, Facebook, Ping.fm and more. It can be very useful once you have a lot of friends and followers on other sites and want to keep track of a more intimate number of them in one place.

I think in the future, there will start to be more aggregating devices like this as well as alliances between some of the bigger social networking sites to make better and even more targeted ways to keep track of your followers.

If you would like to see how I can help your business’ social engagement strategy through any of these means, call me TODAY on 02 4324 2594.

This article appears in full in my book, The Business of Being David – How to use social media to make your small business big. To read the sample chapters and to purchase your own copy, click here.

Do you use Facebook Connect, Gravatar or foursquare? Or do you have any other opinions on what will be the big changers and important platforms to stay up with this year? Let us know in the comments below.