Online Marketing Sydney, Internet Marketing Australia Freestyle Media

At 1:02am on Monday my stomach hurt so much that I felt like crying, I had no idea what was wrong. My father is an anaesthetist and I called him because he helps me out when I am really unwell. I told him my symptoms and he quickly diagnosed that it was my appendix that was in trouble. I live in Sydney and know of all the private hospitals, although I was in Melbourne for business and had no idea where or what the private hospitals were called. So I did like everyone else would and asked a mate for a recommendation, he said the Alfred Hospital was good in St Kilda so I went there.

At the same time as this I asked my dad to go on Google and find a private hospital in Melbourne, “Private Hospital Melbourne” was the keyword I muttered underneath my pain. Now, my dad couldn’t work out a private from a public hospital in the search engine as they had the worst search engine marketing in the world. I wasn’t exactly in a position to be reading a review as my pain was excruciating. I personally was desperate for care, I would have accepted an Indian backyard shop with a pocket knife if he was going to remove my appendix. The Price was not even a consideration. I would have re-mortgaged my apartment just to get under the knife.

I quickly got into a cab and hurled down the streets to the hospital only to find out it was a public hospital. I have had 2 operations in my life and this one has definitely been up there in the pain stakes. Its amazing how much you use your stomach muscles. I must say that the service speed has not been super at times but the nurses have been great. The food is hospital food and with some creative ordering you can get some nice stuff (I would recommend the spaghetti Bolognaise).

After my operation I heard a diagnosis from my surgeon who said apparently my appendix had actually burst and had created an abscise. My stomach had created a wall around it to stop it from infecting my entire stomach but was not in a good way. The extreme requirement of this situation was drastic although I could not find a single place on the internet for somewhere to fix it. It seems that the hospitals have turned a blind eye to people searching for a hospital to fix their condition in an emergency.

1. Buy Relevant keywords - Start buying up keywords for every single emergency condition and send them to a landing page with address details and a good guide on how to get there.
2. Optimise the basics on your website - Display a clear title tag for each page. Especially information as to whether you are a private or public hospital.
3. Put your details on Google Maps - Update your Google map details immediately so that people can quickly and easily find your premises.
4. Search Optimise your website for emergency terms - Start optimising your website for all of your main services and the conditions they fix. Make sure you create pages optimised for human speak and not just doctor speak. “Appendix out” vs. “Appendectomy”. Emergency terms although it makes me a bit squeamish to say this are good money customers searching for services for hospitals, they need your service as a matter of life or death!

During my stay I have thought of a lot of ideas in terms of hospital marketing. Here are my initial 3 ideas. I am sure some of you entrepreneurs out there could build businesses out of these.

1. Hospital Review website – The website reviews and takes in feedback from people who have used a hospital and makes recommendations. It also provides information and service provisions for the different hospitals.
2. A directory of hospitals in every major city – A simple directory could bring in a lot of traffic from the travellers and I am sure could be a good audience to market to.
3. A hospital survival Blog – There must be people out there who have mastered the art of going to hospital and having a superb time. There are so many little nuances and things you pick up over time. Like why doesn’t the tea lady bring me strawberry milk but they do bring the other patients exotic drinks. How do I upgrade my drinks?

Update: I have been discharged this Friday Morning at 10:24am from hospital and am now recovering in a hotel room. After 5 days in hospital I have had a whirlwind experience and look forward to catching up with you for some of my new online marketing strategies I came up with in my hospital bed! Ask me about my new landing page strategy.

Last week I did a webinar with SmartCompany and search engine optimised a few websites including:

• Axa Australia www.axa.com.au
• Flexi Car www.FlexiCar.com.au

Key elements we went through:

1. Overall search engine optimisation performance of a website
2. Keyword research and selecting profitable words
3. Structuring your website for keywords
4. Code optimisation
5. Inbound Links

Bonus Questions answered
I also answered some very specific questions about search marketing that you can learn a lot from at the later 3rd of the webinar.

What do you think of the John Howard YouTube?

It is getting pounded by internet users, especially the YouTube community. I like what John and his team has done. Its good. Its getting press and its appealing to the younger voter. He is actually gotten with the times and realised that less people are watching the TV and has instead opted for the medium which most of us use all day. I think there are some lessons we can learn from this.

4 ways to minimise your risk with Online Marketing

1. Don’t piss on the things that are already working - If you are going to take a risk reduce the damage and put it somewhere else. If John posted the video on his website he could damage all of the good or perhaps maximise it. Its unsure yet what would happen. By putting the video on YouTube this has reduced the risk by controlling the potential damage to only the YouTube site.

2. Interesting content and good video quality - I think the video quality is quite good although the content is debatable. I think that is a good thing but. It causes commentary and allows people to discuss their views. The haters and the lovers can fight it out. But the best thing is its all centred around John and that builds his profile coming up to this election.

3. Video is better than text - If you want to try and make some impact these days you are going to need to turn up the power. There is and excessive amount of noise on the internet and its hard to get some airtime. That is why I like the usage of video. 10 years back it would be outrageous for Johnny to release something in print on the internet. Now he has taken a step up and gone to the video content. That was mandatory to get noticed. Otherwise it would have passed through the internet like another HTML page on some distant URL that no one accessed.

4. Feedback and adjust - If there was no way to measure response and instant feedback to the activity it would be doomed to failure. John is getting instant feedback and also quite a bit of PR attention from the main press. This is critical as you can guage activity and also determine success and what to modify in the future.

What do you think?

So you know your website sucks but there are still some pots of gold on it that everyone comments about and you don’t want to kill, for fear of losing all of your sales. What do you do?

We have many websites running for our clients and they all have golden elements to them which deliver the leads/signups/sales our clients need, but there are always improvements that can be made. The reason for this is because our clients took on my first principle of getting a website up and running and testing the results. They made sales, saw the potential and kept upgrading. If it died in the ass they dumped it. Your first website needs to be that test pilot that gives very specific users exactly what they need, but unfortunately will have many short comings and some grief for other users. Quickly upgrading your site and evolving it with the feedback from your new users is critical at this stage, but its not a reason to overhaul it.

Decision 1 – Did you figure out what the jewels on your website were?
If you haven’t figured that out yet its not time to rebuild it yet. Save your pennies and make a few imagery modifications, add a few links and push users to the areas of your website that you think might gain interest. Keep the test running. Note down just generally what has tended to provide the best conversions and what has got comments from users. Better still, if you have struck upon some viral elements or written a niche bit of content that is getting a huge amount of search engine traffic keep that and build more onto it. Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be live and getting feedback.

Decision 2 – Do you have the cash?
If you don’t have the budget to make a better website this time around keep saving your pennies and incrementally invest in the site. If you rebuild a site it should be a bigger and better investment than before because you have the insights of what your customers want and you are upgrading these parts. If you are just rebuilding the site just for the sake of fixing some problems but are keeping the same functionality and content, I would pause and wait a bit more time before rebuilding your site. Just changing the ‘look and feel’ of your website isnt going to skyrocket your traffic or sales. These things might:

1. Building a viral tool - Adding a refer a friend form to your shopping cart thank you page. Creating a free report download form to build a database. Adding a forum.
2. Service - Is what you are adding a new service that your visitors will find handy? If yes, add it, if no disband it.
3. Money - Will you earn more cash from upgrading your site? This is a more crude way of saying is there an ROI in your website upgrade. Since you are a marketing manager and you have been to conferences with everyone screaming ROI. Just give it a thought before you upgrade. Anyone at Freestyle Media could build you a “Space Shuttle” of a website but we would not be keen to take your cash just because you want to upgrade it unless you were going to make more money by doing so.

I would advise that you want to be the big gorilla in your online niche not just a little possum hanging out with their mates. Vision your website as the best in the industry and work towards it.

3 questions to formulate your websites vision

1. Which website is the best in the market?
2. What am I doing better?
3. What do I need to do to take steps to be the best?

If you have 2 No’s from the above, then keep chipping away and rebuild it later. Perhaps just launch a free blog and start testing out those new ideas you had for your site. Alternatively just register a $8 .com domain name, install some off the shelf software with a few mods and plonk it on some cheap hosting and see what happens!

If you have subscribed to this blog and have committed to this blog then disregards what I am about to say.

Have you checked recently how many people go online vs go and check their mailbox. If not. Here are some stats for you.

2. Welcome to online marketing. I have bad news for you. People have already been where you have been and you need a serious crash course to catch up.

3. Don’t worry. What you learnt offline can be applied online. If you have something of value people are going to check you out. If not. Try again.

4. By the way the online marketing dream is dying. Yes! People are crouding every single internet marketing niche. No more sending out random spam letters to people hoping 0.01% of people will respond. 6 other companies in your exact niche are about to do it. Hey, I am being extreme and there are still some niches open, but take some action, stop ignoring online marketing.

5. If you have need help call 02 9818 7300. Ask for Fred Schebesta.

Download 5 ways to supercharge your online marketing.

Yes! No gimmicks, No tricks just Free petrol! Our newest campaign with NRMA Motoring is to give away $25,000 worth of petrol and you get a free weekly email for the cheapest petrol prices in your area.

This is awesome http://nrma.campaign.com.au !

There are only 3 other headlines that could grab more attention than that. I have been reading Michael Kielys post about creating headlines and copywriting. I consider Michael Kiely to be the god of copywriting for direct marketing and kneel at his feet of wisdom.

3 Headlines to top FREE Petrol

1. Free Beer - I think I would do quite a few things for a free beer. I would fill in a 10 page survey just for a free beer.
2. Free Sex - This headline grabs peoples attention by the balls! Literally.
3. Free Money - This is a classic John Caples Headline.

Want more conversions on your site? Fix your copy! I have interviewed Jon Maxim to help you sizzle your copy to get a better response rate. Jon is a guru copywriter and teaches for ADMA strategy and copy courses.

Here are some of the things you will learn:

1. How to deal with the online medium?
2. Where do you start? _un__ion?
3. How do you get to the point faster, given its online?
4. What tactic should you employ so that everyone understands what you are trying to tell them?
5. What about grammar in the online space? What is so special about “Eats roots and leaves”?
6. How can you improve your copy over time?
7. What increases email readership?
8. BONUS!! Listen to find out!

Listen to the podcast by adding your name and email address:

Make your opinion count, post your comments about the podcast below.

Is Your Online Marketing Becoming Obsolete?

Have you seen Microsoft Surface? If not spend 1 minute and be wowed by their video demonstrations.

Microsoft Surface Videos

So where does that leave your online marketing? Should you start researching how you are going to market to this new platform? Is your online marketing obsolete? Where does it fit in your online marketing strategy? I would suggest leave it the same place it was before. With new technologies and new ideas they are fantastic but unfortunately no one uses them except the innovators and pioneers. So many new and amazing technologies never make it to the mainstream. E.g. electronic Books, Electronic newspapers, ePens etc.. Surface is another media. Its a publicity thing right now for Microsoft to get back into the headlines. Its not mainstream yet. No one is using it. How many people in Australia have an iPhone from Apple? 10? There are only 10,000 people using Second Life in Australia.

Some products make it through to the mainstream like iPods, Personal computers, Mobile phones, pagers etc.. and then you need to think about how that effects your online marketing. My rule of thumb is this, If the taxi drivers are talking about it then its mainstream and you need to worry about it. Otherwise ohh and ahh about it but wait 2 more years. Right now I would suggest to you that you need to get your online marketing happening because the taxi drivers know how to go on the internet now!

Fred Schebesta interviews Angela Schuster from Integrated research in this podcast. Angela is a guru at B2B online marketing and how to generate leads and enquiries. She takes a very integrated approach using the following tactics to generate qualified leads.

• Search marketing
• Websites
• Landing pages
• Email marketing
• Database profiling
• Podcasts and ebooks

Angela shares her 5 tips to B2B online marketing success at the end of the podcast which will immediately give you a framework to run your online marketing for increased results.

Listen to Podcast
Increasing profits with B2B Integrated Online Marketing

Designing a website can be very subjective - everybody seems to have an opinion, even the mail boy. Through years on the job I have developed this fail-safe methodology which makes things a whole lot easier. Firstly, set an objective. Most simply, your objective with each page should be to persuade the user to take “Action”. Your job is to determine the role of your website and the desired action that users should perform.

Whilst this process is best performed on a new site design, it can also be applied to existing sites. Follow these 9 basic steps to analyse the performance of your website and design it right.

9 Quick Questions to test your website design

Take a close, fresh look at your homepage. Here’s how: Pretend you are a new visitor to your website. Make your website is full screen (Press F11 on your keyboard). Look away from your screen and pause for a second. Look back at your screen and ask yourself the following questions.
The ideal answer follows each question. If your website does not match these descriptions then its time to get to work!

1. What is the first thing you look at? – The attention grabber is a picture or a strong headline at page centre. It should be something which immediately engages, enticing the user to want more.
2. What did you immediately think the company did? – Your users should be able to see immediately what your company does and how it can help them. State your products’/services’ core benefit up front.
3. What is the second thing you look at? – Offering support to the headline (generally subheads or product thumbnails) these statements should now be leading the user towards the desired action. Often they will be entry points into your major product/service categories.
4. What is the last thing you look at on the page? – This last item catches the user’s eye before they click and is often found in the side columns. Use these takeaways to start building trust and credibility.
5. Where is the first and second place you would click? – These optimal click-points should be taking the user one step closer to the ultimate desired action on your website – whether to call, engage, make an appointment or buy. The role of your website will determine which of these actions is most appropriate. For instance: is the site a brand-building exercise (engage), an online shop (buy) or an information portal helping build your sales channels (call, make an appointment). Every website will suit one, perhaps even all, of these options and a successful site will drive appropriate user actions.
6. What would you expect to be behind those links? – Take a look at your sitemap before you ask this question and look at what page sits behind each of the clicks. Then look back at your design and ask, “If I landed at the page, would the content satisfy me?” i.e. has the promise in the call to action been lived up to? E.g. If you sent a user to a page that said “Free whitepaper” can they get the free whitepaper? Secondly “Does this page help convert the user to a customer?” i.e. Is it continuing the user along the buying process?
7. What did you spend the most amount of your time looking at? – Whatever it was that kept catching your eye, make sure that has a strong invitation to interact. Thousands of visitors are going to be doing what you do so try and persuade as many of them as you can to take the action you require. Don’t make your users search all over the page for ways to get into your site. If its too hard they’ll give up before they get started.
8. What did you expect to be behind each of the navigation buttons? – Do a sanity check and make sure that there is relevant content behind each navigational link. Don’t use obscure language or untitled imagery as click-throughs. Time is precious and few users want to waste theirs trying to second guess your creative interpretation of content.
9. Did all of the questions match your answers? – If yes then you are on your way to internet marketing success, but beware, there are going to be more tests when you actually launch the site! If no, note the changes required and chat with your online marketing agency to create a results-driven website.

Make your opinion count. Post a comment.

This article was also features in SmartCompany Website http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Blog/Fred-Schebesta-list/NEW-Fred-Schebesta070528.html