Many thought that the installation of the new data cable on the coast of South Africa is the main reason for the growth in users, but World Wide Worx found that the granting of Electronic Communications Network Service licenses to more than 400 organizations was of even greater importance. Service providers that had to buy their network access from one of the major providers can now build their own networks or choose where they want to buy their access.

Reference: bizcommunity.com

How is that, you ask? Simple. Use a text ad and sponsor the top or right side of search results that are relevant to your company, employment brand, and location. (sample keywords might be RF Engineer with a geography around Irvine, CA.)

By starting a keyword campaign with Google, a text link to your careers site (please tell me you have one) will show up based on certain keywords that you bid on. Keywords can be as low as .10 per click to R120 per click or more and the highest bidder wins, putting your text ad up at the top. If you bid low you won’t be visible on the first page in the results; and really that’s where you want to be. The text ad would be designed professionally to talk about your company and match your open position.

There are several major advantages to start a recruitment campaign with Google:

Passive vs. Active Job Seekers- While all of us know that passive job seekers are exactly the people  we want to target; not many have a plan for doing so on a consistent, measurable basis. While the “Big 3″ job boards are great for getting a ton of resumes; there is definitely more of an active job seeker crowd using the sites.

Employment Branding- Keep in mind that you only pay when a jobseeker clicks on your ad; you are getting free views of your company name when you are not clicked on. This is great “free” branding for your company; many times a job seeker will see your ad, remember it, and go straight to your website later on.

Metrics- Almost everything you do with Google can be measured quantitatively; how many visitors, where they came from, what time, and even what browser they were using. If ROI is important to you and you want reports to show your VP then this is pretty powerful information.

Driving traffic to your career site- Most of the work I do involves ways to make the career site easy to apply to, attractive, and informative. This is another way to drive traffic straight to your site where you can capture their attention instead of a job board posting where they can be distracted easily or worse find one of your competitors instead via a banner or leader board ad.

Building an exclusive Resume Database- Keep in mind that the resumes you get from the job boards are also searchable and are called on by other recruiters from other companies in the area. How nice would it be to drive passive job seekers direct from Google directly to your site before they hit the job boards?

Cost per Click vs. contracts- Most of us are used to negotiating 1, 2 or even 3 year online spending contracts; with Google you can “try it out” with no contracts to keep you locked in. I would recommend a minimum of 6 months (it takes some time to tweak your campaign to see what is working and what is not) but if you have the time and a decent budget there is not much to lose. I would define decent as a few thousand per month to get started..

If you are not sure so far, do any job search on Google. You will notice that most of the top bidders are the Big 3; they heavily invest in Google so you know it works already the question is why aren’t you doing this?”

“For example, since I always search for [recipes] and often click on results from epicurious.com, Google might rank epicurious.com higher on the results page the next time I look for recipes,” Google writes in a blog post on the subject. “Other times, when I’m looking for news about Cornell University’s sports teams, I search for [big red]. Because I frequently click on cornellbigred.com, Google might show me this result first, instead of the Big Red soda company or others.”

What this means for SEO

Now we can be sure that when Google announces a major change or improvement, we should take notice and think about what these changes mean for us and our businesses. If everyone’s search results are specifically adjusted to their needs and interests, it will be so much harder for businesses to reach these users by using the traditional SEO strategies. Luckily we also know that when Google makes changes, we will find a way to adjust.

Look, I’m sure that the original methods of SEO will still apply and work, but we need to focus on our target audience. This could also boost Google’s revenue directly, as many people will start to rely on Adwords more than they would on Organic ranking. And quite frankly, I would prefer my searched results tailored to my interests, who wouldn’t?

Users who have accounts with Google and have their history enabled, are familiar with this method of ranking, as this has been available to them for a while now. But with these new changes this will become the standard way of delivering search results for everyone.

Are you responsible for the marketing of a multi-channel retail business? If so, you’ve probably already discovered there is far more to online retail marketing than just having a website. You also need to ensure your site can be found by your customers while convincing them to take action. Even with a well-optimised website, there is still much more to online marketing than most people are aware of. Retailers can unlock extra value from the internet by analysing Google search trends, making the most of social media demographics and leveraging today’s leading online customer relationship building tools.

Consequently, we are increasingly helping retailers to address the following 6 fundamental questions:

Which product lines should we stock next season?
Your target customers are already searching for the products you stock. Or are they? Trend analysis is by no means new to the retail industry, but how to access the information cost effectively and timeously? … that is the question. Smart online marketers regularly use keyword research and a variety of trend analysis tools, such as Google Insights, to help their retail clients decide which new product lines they should be stocking in the new season.

How will they find OUR store online?
Search Engine Marketing is the key here. Time and again search marketing delivers a measurable return on investment for online retailers. Put simply, this is the key to ensuring your potential customers will find your store ahead of your competition when searching for your products online.

Which locations should we expand to?
You are ready to expand, but where should your next store go? If your website is setup correctly, it will give you access to some very useful insights. One of the reports your internet marketing consultant should be able to put together for you is a Geographic Demand Analysis of your website’s visitors. Although this is not an exact indication of your customers’ locations, it certainly should be considered when trying to decide whether your new store should be situated in Cape Town CBD, Somerset West, Johannesburg or Tokyo.

How do we establish and maintain our online brand?
Is your brand established online? Here is a simple test. Just type into Google the range of phrases you think your customers will use when they search for your type of products. If your website repeatedly comes up in search engine results pages (SERPs) and the results are positive, well done – you’re probably well on your way to establishing your brand online. If not, it’s time to develop a content marketing strategy that will grow your online brand to the point where, over time, it becomes recognised as a leading authority on your industry vertical.

What can we do to grow sales by leveraging customer information?
How often have you been asked “Is there anything you want for your next birthday?” It’s a fact that viral marketing opportunities abound with online gift registers. So make it easy for your customers to create and share wishlists in-store AND to send a “wishlist notification” to their friends and family.” Now that’s really got the potential to go viral! (I’ll be sharing the case studies I’ve uncovered that will explain this point in more detail soon.)

How are the most successful Multi-channel retailers evolving their businesses?
Really successful multi-channel retailers find creative ways to seamlessly blend their customers’ physical retail experience with the online experience. Some retailers start this as a customer leaves the store, while others take it even further by introducing the online experience already in their window displays. One thing is for sure, the next generation of shoppers is going to have considerably different expectations from retailers.

Here’s a simple example of the above approach. If you are a footwear retailer, how about sending a personalised sms from the founder of your retail brand, thanking the customer for purchasing that pair of Nike running shoes? At the same time you could:

• Direct them to an article which explains how to get the most from their new pair of running shoes
• Include some insights on the benefits of appropriate running socks, to leverage your up-sell opportunities
• Invite them to an upcoming fun run / marathon – where they can meet your team and ask questions.

It’s life Jim, but not as we know it
Ultimately, all this is just a case of using good old-fashioned relationship building techniques to keep your brand top-of-mind and generate repeat business. The fact that online marketing can be so much more cost effective and measurable only adds to the incentives for retailers to try it out.

To help you get a better grasp of the above strategies, I’ll be expanding on each of them in the coming weeks, with case studies to illustrate how they work in real life. In the meantime, if you want to contribute some of your own case studies, please let me know and let’s share the wisdom.

However, a good internet marketing strategy consists of much more than just optimising your website for certain ‘search phrases’ on the internet. Increased website traffic does not always guarantee you a higher conversion rate.

An internet marketing specialist should also be able to assist you in answering the following questions

• Are my products / services in demand on the internet?
• Which of my products / services can be most successfully marketed online?
• Where and how do web users look for my services / products?  (this is not necessarily obvious)
• Who are my competitors on the internet? (It may very likely differ from your offline competitors)
• Which of these web users are more likely to buy from me?
• What is the best way to draw these web users / potential customers to my website?
• What do these potential customers really want to see and read on my website?
• How do I track my progress and continuously improve my website’s performance on the internet?

Your internet marketing consultant will use this information to create and implement an internet marketing strategy that works for your business. This strategy may include a combination of the following: SEO, Pay per Click advertising, social media marketing, targeted email campaigns, professional web copywriting, and conversion techniques.

The benefits of an integrated approach to internet marketing as opposed to just using SEO tactics for your website are immense. It is frequently much more cost effective than traditional marketing and could give you the competitive edge over your competitors.

This new sidebar will let you slim down your search results by letting you choose different types of content, a few different options and suggestions for related searches. Just remember that Google is pretty reserved when it comes to changes, and they stick to the less-is-more approach; so this won’t become a permanent feature very soon.

New Google Interface

Okay so enough with all that, are you ready to try it out?

Firstly you need to use the international version of Google, at google.com. If you are automatically redirected to a local version, try google.com/ncr.

Secondly, the only way to go back to the current version, is to delete a specific cookie from your web browser. So if you are not at ease playing around with individual cookies in your browser, don’t try this out.

Now if you still want to go ahead, go to google.com, erase everything in your address bar, including http://google.com, and paste the following code in the address bar:

javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");

Press enter, refresh and if you are redirected to a local version again, just go to google.com/nrc again. Do your search, and enjoy the new sidebar on your left!

To go back to the current version of Google, just delete the cookie for Google.com, labeled PREF and starting with “ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb”.

The important thing with email marketing – if done on the right platform – is that the results are measureable. Once the current campaign is finished it is important to analyse the metrics from it and use it to make the next campaign more successful.

Any good emailed marketing platform will be able to give you a range of different metrics. The most important are:

Open Rate – how many people opened the email.

Delete Rate – how many people deleted the email without opening it.

Unsubscribe Rate – how many people unsubscribed from your mailing list.

Referral Rate – how many people forwarded the email to a friend.

Click Through Rate – how many people followed the Call To Action.

By analysing all of these metrics, you can determine if changes need to be made to your next campaign. For example, if you have a high deletion rate, maybe the title of your email is putting people off. Or if your open rate is high but people are not clicking on the call to action, maybe you need to try redesigning the Call to Action button to make it more attractive. Very often people subscribe to a newsletter but get sent an advertisement instead. Remember, this is marketing, not advertising!

Email marketing is very valuable and has a good ROI but like anything worth doing, it requires work. So analyse where you have gone right and wrong and start designing your next campaign today!

Now there are a few basic ground rules you should follow if you want to make the most of Social Networking. Incorporate these three do’s and don’ts into your strategic plan, and you will surely make a success of it.

Do

1. Start slow: Start out with no more than three spots to post your stuff. The usual choices-  LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter – are great, but after a little research into your industry’s specific needs, you may find some equally viable substitutes for them.

Hint: If you look at Twitter and Facebook, they are the leaders in terms of growth right now, so I would suggest you get on there, just be be in the know of what going on in the world around you.

2. Fill out your profiles and post a recent photo of you or your logo as your avatar. Make sure you give your audience all the information they could need, so that they can decide whether you would be a good connection for them or not.

3. Be there and be social. Now you don’t have to be married to these sites, but I would suggest that you dedicate about 15 minutes a few times a week to them, to network and post new content.

Don’t

1. Fall into the time warp hazard. When you start out, you’ll notice it is easy to get a little addicted to posting and updating your profile, but once the stars fade away and you’ve got this thing mastered, you might feel enslaved by all the replies and effort, and you may doubt whether this was a good idea. This is just where you need to find your comfort zone. If you stay with it, I assure you will get the hang of it.

2. Think you don’t measure up. Now this can be very discouraging to the new guys. Never compare yourself to the success of other networkers, everyone is trying their best, including you, and that’s more than enough! Remember, all networkers specialize in different fields, and have been networking for different lengths of time.

3. Update hastily. The internet isn’t going anywhere. It’s permanent. One rant or rave posted in the heat of irritation or anger can destroy weeks or months of trust and relationship-building. Once you tweet, there’s no going back – you can’t delete a sent tweet. Facebook and others do grant delete power; but even if you’re quick on the delete draw, it may be too late to undo the damage in some places.

Make sure you implement these tips, and you will surely reap the rewards!

Use effective anchor text – you should a consistent theme of anchor text so that search engines will be able to determine the overall theme of your website. A more effective use of anchor text is to describe the content of the page being linked to directly in anchor text.

Directory submissions – Submitting links to directories represents and easy and proven way of link building.  Your first directory submissions should be at DMOZ and Yahoo; those two are guaranteed to provide you with a high quality authoritative link.

Article directory submission – you can generate a large number of incoming links to your website by submitting articles to article directories.Articlesbase.com & Ezinearticles.com are very good article directories.

Community participation – Participating in online communities such as blogs and social media websites is an effective strategy for building quality links and generating   traffic.

One way links – this can be one of the most difficult ways of obtaining a link as it involves you asking a webmaster to link to your website without you linking back. This method is likely to produce good results because the links will be coming from handpicked websites that meet the criteria you desire.