Big drops in retail sales means more people shop online!

Sipping amazing Silk Road cocktails with a friend of mine who is a Federal Member of the Australian Parliament, the topic of conversation inevitably ended up in the current global economic crisis and the dropping Australian dollar. He noted that over the last 2 weeks, retail foot traffic has dropped by 7%, and retailers predict further decrease. This coincides with the information I got from friends in the USA that shopping malls in car based cities are literally deserted as Americans stopped driving to malls and stay at home, and many retail stores are forced to close down.

This seemingly gloomy trend is a blessing in disguise for those doing business over the internet. Think about it. If people are not visiting the shops and spending all their spare time at home, what would they be spending more time doing?? Surfing the net!!

Better yet, for those who are selling online to overseas customers, the dropping Australian dollar means our products are becoming more affordable.

I always look for the silver lining in times of turmoil. Be proactive and take advantage of the opportunities that the current crisis brings. To get in front of your customers, you absolutely need Top 20 Google rankings (people simply don’t browse beyond the 2^nd page). Start SEO/SEM now before everyone else wake up to the trend and realized that they too have to jump onto the SEO bandwagon.

Grab the golden moments of opportunities or the competition will get super tough, and the golden moment is NOW!

Think about it.

Judy

BSEO Case Study - SweetLillyMaternity

Sweet Lilly Maternity is an award-winning, premier Australian owned and operated designer and retailer of maternity clothes.

Sweet lilly maternity has been enjoying great success in the maternity market and some big name stars have been wearing the brand, it was time for more exposure. Again the maternity clothes market is a competitive market with many brands competing for the new and not so new mums market.

Identifying the market correctly is always a challenge for the SEO company, and with clients that expect and demand great success you had better get it right.

Sweet lilly maternity wished to broaden their market scope by entering the lucrative market of online sales, this has been achieved with a targeted SEO campaign showing brilliant results.

Below are just a few of the keyword phrases that Sweet lilly maternity is enjoying substantial business from. Click on a term and see for your self just how well they rank.

• maternity - Google
• maternity jeans - Google
• maternity dresses - Google
• maternity clothing - Google
• maternity clothes - Google

BSEO Case Study - SkinB5

SkinB5 is a leading acne prevention and treatment brand, SkinB5 target market is global and as such requires a global presence in the search engines.

As with all clients we first analyse the clients site structure we then move on to looking at the clients market and performing keyword research. Once we have performed the keyword phrase research we optimise each page to target certain keyword phrases. We identified that there were substantial trafficked keyword phrases the client had not been targeting.

We adjusted the site and began the seo campaign, within weeks the client had experienced a upturn in sales and conversion rate of traffic visiting their website.

Identifying keyword phrases that turn into sales is a primary objective of our campaign research, finding terms that drive qualified traffic is essential to a successful seo campaign.

Below is a selection of keyword phrases SkinB5 are receiving healthy traffic flows from but more importantly everyday sales.

• natural acne cure - Google
• natural acne cures - Google
• natural acne cures - NineMSN
• acne control - Google
• fast acne cure - Google
• prevent acne - Google
• natural acne treatments - Google
• vitamins for acne - Google
• clogged pores - Google

SkinB5 campaign is still in very early days yet and results will continue to climb, well the ones that are not already No1 results. At this stage SkinB5 has 41 keyword phrases in the No1 position, 128 search terms in the top 5 positions and 155 search phrase terms in the top 10 positions. This is just from the main keyword phrases we are working on, if we took into account the terms in the long tail of search it would run into simply hundreds more.

BSEO Case Study - Ere Perez

Ere Perez is a up and coming brand in the cosmetics market, this is a highly competitive market with major players wanting top results.

When a client is in the most competitive markets a real strategic plan is needed with long term goals in place. Ere Perez understands this and has solid brand building strategies in place.

This case study represents a company that is in the first stage of an SEO campaign, and as such we will update this as the client progresses.

Ere Perez has been featured in publications such as:

Harper's Bazaar September 2008
Full Story

Fernwood Magazine October/November 2008
Full Story

Cosmopolitan Magazine April 2008
Full Story

Professional Beauty Magazine January / February 2008
Full Story

This creating off line buzz for on line success is a critical phase when building what will become a major brand. You can read an introduction to traditional marketing for online success by clicking here.

Because the cosmetics and makeup market is so competitive you just must concentrate on the long tail of search just as much as your primary keyword phrases. It is impossible to enter a competitive market and rank straight away for the top search phrases. A structured SEO plan is needed to deliver short term gains while delivering ling term goals.

This is achieved in Ere's case with a strong off site PR campaign and onsite with targeting broader long tail phrases, this delivers high converting key word phrases. As linking strategies take affect over time and other ranking resources play their part the highly competitive terms will begin to rank.

Here is a sample of terms Ere Perez is already ranking for.

• rice powder cosmetics - Google
• rice powder makeup - Google
• tinted rice powder - Google
• tinted rice powders - Google
• natural mascara - Google
• natural eyeshadows - Google
  

At this stage Ere Perez is ranking No1 for 23 search terms, 47 search phrases in the top 5 positions and 67 rankings in the top 10 positions. We will update this case study each month to display the way a campaign matures over time. You will see a elevated ranking of long tail terms and a gradual increase of primary search terms.

Testimonials on Judy Founder of BSEO & Infusion Melbourne

“I am very impressed with the quality of speaker and guests at the Infusion Melbourne Launch. I congratulate Infusion for providing such a warm platform for meaningful cross-cultural exchanges to achieve personal and professional success. I look forward to many more great events in the future.“
Mr. Jason Wood, Federal Member of Parliament

“Congratulations Judy on the launch of Infusion Melbourne. In bringing together people from different cultures, careers and backgrounds you are creating a truly diverse network.”
Jen Dalitz, Professional Speaker and Author, www.jendalitz.com

“Thanks for organizing last week’’s Infusion event. It was an excellent opportunity for me to meet similarly business minded and driven people. I have often felt that an organization for young Asian professionals was something that was lacking in Melbourne. Please let me know if you need help in organizing future events, I would be happy to see how I could be of assistance.”
Eugene Tong , Portfolio Manager, Leyland Private Asset Management

“I attended the Infusion Melbourne launch and met so many fantastic professionals! Everyone was successfully involved in different types or realms of business and the guest speaker really made me think about how I can make my future anything I want it to be with the right combination of hard work and making the most of support opportunities."
TG, Senior City Planner

“Thanks very much for organising such a great event. Last night was a great event. Certainly, it was not too long or short, but a guest speaker did make the night somewhat more knowledgeable. Jen was fantastic in her delivery.”
Brandon Tam , Small Business Specialist, ANZ Bank

“Thank you for a great evening. The guest speaker struck a real chord with me and your associates are more than interesting. I look forward to the next night of network joy!”
Glenn Millen, Managing Director, MAAS MEDIA

“Last night was excellent – well done to you for kick starting such a positive organisation in Melbourne. I will continue to be involved.”
Anthea Palmer, Director, AVIVAPURE Pty Ltd

“Thank you Judy! Last night was amazing. It was absolutely fantastic. I have been to so many seminars but never been like this.”
Dan Li, Web Developer, Future Business Systems

“A big congratulations on the event. You did a great job and you’re the perfect person to lead the Melbourne operation. I enjoyed talking with you and meeting some of the other guests. Jen was a very good speaker.”
Brett King, Principal Consultant, Luminent Consulting

Melbourne Infusion Networking Events Launched on 12th August 2008

Cross-cultural business networking is MUST for International business opportunities and in today’s culturally diverse workplace.

We all know that networking is the most important business building tool in today’s competitive market – networking accounts for more than 87% of all business in today’s market. The power and importance of networking is undeniable. As Bob Burg author of Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts into Sales described:

“All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.”

Cross-cultural networking is even more crucial in today’s culturally diverse workplaces and global marketplace. International businesses are facing new challenges to their internal communications due to major reforms brought about through internationalization, downsizing, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. 

Lack of understanding and awareness of cultural differences often leads to break down in business dealings and deficient internal cohesion in companies.

The loss of clients/customers, poor staff retention, lack of competitive edge, internal conflicts/power struggles, poor working relations, misunderstandings, stress, poor productivity and lack of co-operation are all by-products of poor cross-cultural communication. 

The charter of Infusion is to provide a welcoming and friendly environment to facilitate the break down of cultural barriers that are preventing so many businesses and individuals to achieve their full potentials. Since launch in Sydney in December 2005, Infusion has grown into a real gem of the networking world.

Today, our cross-cultural networking group has the most diverse group of people attending the events, not only because of the cross-cultural aspect but also the different age groups. As our last keynote speaker Mike O’Hagan, Founder and Sole Owner of MiniMovers (http://www.ohagan.com.au) testifies, he was amazed at how diverse Infusion’s attendees were and noted how rare a thriving cross-cultural networking group is.

Come join Infusion Melbourne! We are all about making real connections and meaningful networking, in a cozy and intimate environment with a limited amount of people.
Since our launch in August our monthly events are attracting more and more top quality people from all walks of life and cultural background, including international authors and motivational speaks, coaches, entrepreneurs, small business owners, corporate professionals, students etc. I am currently organizing our events calendar, and I am very excited to noted that we already have top quality speakers booked in all the way til April 2009, including Mr. Jason Wood Federal MP and top author and motivational speak Julian Campbell.

Infusion Melbourne is held every last Tuesday of the month.
Please email judy@infusion.org.au if you would like to be included in our mailing list.

Serious About Your Business

If you are serious about your business, do your search engine marketing properly.

Best is to let the professionals do it. Search Engine Marketing or Search Engine Optimisation (SEM/SEO) is a specialist field on its own, so don’t waste your time and energy trying to do it yourself.

If you are thinking big and want to grow your business into a multimillion dollar business, then you absolutely need to find a competent SEO company who can help build a strong brand, strategically position your products and services in the right place of the market, and help you increase market share overtime.

Even if you plan to sell your business down the track, your business will be worthless without a strong brand.

Yes, hiring talents comes with a cost, but you have to look long term and put it all in perspective. As they say, you pay peanuts for monkeys, you know this is a fact of life. Not to mention the time wasted on monkeys that cannot be recovered!

If SEO is done properly, the benefits to your business are enormous:

• First page Google rankings signal quality of brand and market authority.
• To capture potential customers who are already actively looking for your products and services, you must be listed on Pages 1 and 2 of natural search results to expand your market share.
• Googlers being able to find your website on first page means more visitors traffic, which inevitably will lead to more sales. It’s all a numbers game.
• Exposure to the global marketplace with billions of potential customers literally at no extra costs. Not to mention sales to overseas customers pay no GST!

The finest example of the enormous brand and revenue building power of search engine marketing is the multi-award winning business Red Balloon Days, as the Founder and CEO Naomi Simson often shares with others at public speaking events. "My advice again, do it right or don’t do it."

Happy Googling.

Judy