Beware of Domain name scammers

2011-02-26T20:55:00.000+11:00

In the past week, two clients have contacted me to ask if they should pay a domain name renewal that has been sent to them in the mail.

Please be aware that there are some dodgy companys around that will send these letters, hoping that you will pay their inflated prices without thinking about it. This practice is apparently not illegal, although it's highly unethical.

Generally when I build a website for a client I also offer to take on the domain name management, as the company I lease hosting space from also offers very low-priced domain names, and it is also simpler to have your domain name and webhosting in the same place.

If you receive one of the letters, please feel free to contact me before you pay - in both of the aforementioned instances I was already managing the client's domain name, and both had many months left before renewal would be necessary.

Cheers,

Nicky

Ways to promote your website

2009-10-16T19:02:00.001+11:00

I'm often asked "now that I've got a website - what should I do next?" So I thought it might be helpful to start a series of "Next Steps".

Why have a website?
I went to a marketing seminar earlier this year and the presenter told us "every business needs a website". Good news for me! The reality nowadays is, your website is the most important marketing tool you have, because the web is now the first port of call for many consumers who are looking to purchase something. Even if those consumers don't purchase online, a high proportion of them definitely do their research online before they buy, and if your competitors have a good website and you don't, well....

My website is there now and it works - why touch it?
The best way to promote your business online is to get your website as high up the search engine (ie. Google or Yahoo) rankings as possible. But this isn't easy, because everybody wants to be on Page 1. And there are a lot of companies nowadays who will promise you "Page 1 on Google", while charging you a fortune.

As you may or may not be aware, Google uses over 200 fancy algorithms to determine which websites are placed where on their search engine results, because their ultimate goal is to be the best search engine out there, so they want to provide the best results for people who perform searches. The truth is that nobody knows what all of these 200 algorithms are. Yes, there are Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) companies around that have a very good idea of what they are, but nobody knows exactly because Google keeps them confidential. So if somebody contacts you and makes that promise, it would pay to be very wary.

WebSolutionZ don't offer specialised SEO because frankly, the SEO companies have the expertise, resources and time to do it better. However, I have a friend who is an SEO specialist who's given me several pointers, which I thought I'd share with you over coming weeks.

1. Quality links to your website
Google gives every website a Page Rank (PR) score. In Australia, very few websites have a PR higher than 6 - sites such as theage.com.au (PR 8), ebay.com.au (PR 7) and news.com.au/heraldsun/ (PR 6) are some of the highest Page Ranked sites. If you are able to get your website listed on a highly Page Ranked site, this is considered to be a quality link, and Google will reward you.

The easiest way to view Page Rank on websites is to install the Google Toolbar (http://www.google.com/toolbar) for whichever browser you use. Follow the instructions on the screen and then check the Options that are available - Page Rank is not automatically ticked on so you will need to turn it on.

The easiest way to start adding quality links, is to list your website on a variety of different directory sites. Below are some free directory sites that I've found are worth listing your website on. There are obviously hundreds - be discerning and check the PR of each directory site when you list - if it is a low PR (ie. 1 or 2) then your site may be better off without having a link from there!

Not all of these will be relevant to your business but some will be worth a look.

http://www.hotfrog.com.au
http://www.aussieweb.com.au
http://www.communityguide.com.au
http://www.aussielocal.com.au
http://www.bubhub.com.au
http://www.essentialbaby.com.au
http://www.banyulebusiness.com (must live in City of Banyule to register, but check your local council for similar - these tend to have a lower PR but as they are local it is still useful)
http://www.tubbybubby.com.au
http://www.weddingcentral.com.au

Obviously you can also pay to add your website address somewhere. Make sure you investigate he costs, PR, etc. carefully, to ensure you're getting the "most bang for your buck".

The absolute best way to get a quality link, is to get yourself interviewed somewhere! Last year for the business I've been involved in with my friend, we managed to get ourselves onto "A Current Affair". The website went mad for the next 48 hours but most importantly - that video is still on the "A Current Affair" videos website (PR 5) today, with links to our website. As a result of that, earlier this year we got a call from a Herald-Sun journo, who wanted quotes for a story. You just can't buy publicity like that.

Next newsletter...

2. Google Adwords:
https://adwords.google.com.au/

Got questions? Feel free to drop me a line. :-)

Cheers,
Nicky
www.WebSolutionZ.com.au

Welcome to the new WebSolutionZ.com.au blog!

2009-09-22T13:04:00.002+10:00

I'm in the process of selling out my half of a business that I'm currently involved in, which should be completed by the end of this year. So next year I plan to just focus on websites! Typically of the way I do things, when I think of something (like setting up a blog), I have to do it on the spot. So here it is!

WebSolutionZ.com.au Blog

Beware of Domain name scammers

Ways to promote your website

Welcome to the new WebSolutionZ.com.au blog!