Juggling the Critical Success Factors For Real Online Results

Google is just over 10 years old since its commercialisation.

During that time, web developers and marketers have been trying to decipher the best approaches and methodology for optimising their position and ranking on Google and associated search engines, the second best being Yahoo in Australia.

Google has, on many occasions, “let the cat out of the bag” by outlining optimum strategies for success on their search engine. A “cat and mouse” affair in which they give enough, but not too much, to let online marketers, web designers and web users into the secrets of capturing the best positions on a search engine.

All the time they are working with a huge globally backed workforce to change the way in which they are gaining revenue streams, delivering services, and maintaining relevance and competitive advantage in the fast moving e-World. You have to get used to the idea that we are always coming from a behind position in trying to utilise this new and marvellous online marketing tool for business optimisation, just-in-time communication and business networking, in addition to the social and community contributions that search engines make.

Just yesterday we were optimising the website design and rebuilding framed websites and websites with strong Flash and visual architecture that appealed to us, but today it will not gain us credibility with Google and other search engines. We have all worked really hard on clean, seamless navigation and good copy with strategic key words that appealed to the search engines and our online customers. We have worked tirelessly with meta tags and linkages to get it right.

We were just getting there when Click campaigns, landing pages and key word density parameters started to invade the new paradigm. We have had to adjust to websites that have good appeal, not only to ourselves, but to our customers. But this was still not enough.

We then began to analyse the best way to deliver key words, titles and copy that was organised to make the search engines position us and rank us on the first page.

We even became “first page conscious” and wanted companies like Competitive Edge to guarantee this position when our stale website came out of the “cold” in its re-incarnated form and began to meet optimum parameters for Google and other search engines. We were not content to hear that we would have to wait 3-4 months for Google to rank us for the new website. We wanted it now.

Unfortunately, the game had escalated and now the copy we wrote is becoming as important as the web design, navigation and optimisation provided usually by outside experts. Our copy, which had been satisfactory for our clients, has now become even more important for the search engines and our linkages have to number in the hundreds. Most of us have dreaded writing copy at any time, but now we really needed help. We have had to update the copy and home page regularly to meet the “new” aspects of the website that the robots, who regularly visit, want to rank in our site.

Our website was becoming a major marketing tool that had to be professionally managed on a weekly basis. Not some site that we did with our cousin, student son or daughter, or the graduate down the road, and forgot about.

We have to watch our domain for competitors who positioned against us, and we have to understand how our site is faring on a regular basis through tracking and monitoring our unique visitors (no longer Clicks), their time of visit, length of visit, pages visited, key words used, how they got to our site, etc.

We now need to make changes and make them fast, so we need a Content Management System that would allow us to post copy, changes and pictures, and present our website in a dynamic and “new faced” manner on a continuous basis. This is becoming difficult, but necessary, because everyone is on the web and they want to see our site, and we need it to sell using phone, email, introductions, referencing, and ready access from a search engine that can find us and rank us for customer convenience and use.

Google is in control and we have to publish, present, blog, Twitter, Utube, and do everything we can to appeal to the social media, online videos, and the new mix of just-in-time multimedia and social media.

This is becoming arduous, but for those who can grasp the critical success factors, there are great rewards. Combined with good web strategies, strong in-house traditional marketing, and a competitive online site, businesses of all sizes are now able to drive customers to their site and to their bottom line in a cost effective manner.

The online is becoming the lifeline for many businesses, and those who cannot keep pace become the businesses that work with the residual traditional markets that are dwindling in size, volume and viability.

What can you do?

Understanding and tracking the success factors, and maintaining a website as an operational and marketing tool on a daily basis is a necessity today if you want to reap the combined rewards of online and traditional marketing. Even traditional marketing relies on online support, and the total organisation requires online efficiency.

The key factors that need to be juggled are numerous, but they can be summarised as follows:

1. A dynamic tracking and monitoring capability, supported by online statistics of your website performance.

2. A comprehensive Content Management System that you can work.

3. Excellent domain names and landing pages that assist target marketing.

4. Continuously improved content, with a great supporting mix of excellent visuals and clean and contemporary site design.

5. Key word analysis, understanding, and support for your core business positioning and value proposition.

6. Clean calls to action that direct the customers to an outcome for their invested 1-2 minutes on your site.

7. Strong, powerful links to your site, with directories and allies and partners.

8. Optimum use of titles and layout to maximise search engine preference.

9. Continual search engine optimisation and refinement. It will never be finished.

10. Competitive analysis of your major competitors in your defined market space.

Welcome to the new e-World where e-Success is earned from real online results obtained by strong, committed competitive and analytical behaviour. The world of web design and strategy supported by professionals who study how the Search Engine (Google) game is played, and when the rules dictate different winning strategies.

Goodbye to the “I have a website” world.

We are always open for business. You can call Competitive Edge or email us if you want to know how to be a better e-Juggler and compete for profitable, viable business online now and in the future.

03 9853 1899 / comedge@comedge.com.au / http://www.comedge.com.au/


Do not fall behind because the game is changing and the challenge is continuous.

Erratic Government Grant Policies Hamper SME Business & Export Growth

One of the greatest inhibitors to growth in Australia is the constantly changing policies at the influential levels of government.

While industries, on the whole, go about their business on a daily basis without any reference to grants, there are a number of companies that can look to government grants and identify these as being influential in achieving success, particularly in exports.

Exports are one of the areas where government is influential. Many countries we deal with have a centralist government policy, or have a history and culture of government with great influence and a high degree of respect in their respective societies. To this end, working with government is an advantage, and one that should be seized on by most Australian businesses contemplating exports to most parts of the world.

The problem with the government, however, has been their oscillating policies between supporting small business and supporting large business. In this uncertainty, medium business usually does quite well, especially those companies in the $20-40 million turnover bracket.

If we include these medium size companies with small business, they are actually the powerhouse of Australia and the future that the government should be looking to. But lately I have noticed that there is a trend back to supporting big business, and forgetting about the small end of town.

This is a pity because every time the government changes policy, it sends businesses confusing messages. This creates inequality for the small and emerging medium size business, and it rewards big business which if examined, apart from the mining industry and certain key sectors, on the whole cannot grow because of the nature of our society today.

I would not have great difficulty stopping people in the street, even those who do not know much about business, and asking them about the future of large companies. Most of the people would (except for mining, telecommunications, and energy) express the view that we are not going to see great numbers of new large companies emerging in our society today. Merger and acquisition is the way to grow because large companies “eat each other up” in their tremendous appetite for quick growth and they are not prepared to “do the time” with entrepreneurial or generic growth and development.

Large organisations feed on the medium and emerging entrepreneurial companies driven from the small and medium size sector. This trend has been accentuated by the growth of the web-based companies that can emerge and grow to a substantial size very quickly. Because of their culture and their strong entrepreneurial base, companies such as these, that embrace new technologies and new market opportunities, are more capable of fast growth than those in the more “constipated” larger organisations where there are many checks and balances on risk, idea generation and the general motivation to follow, invest and achieve new and exciting market growth opportunities.

Where am I going with this?
Well, what I’m saying is that small to medium companies are the powerhouse of the modern society and will continue to be, aided and abetted by online web-based technology. Large companies will be very static and will continue to flourish in our society, but will not be the area where we will see great replication or emergence of new business ventures.

If government wants growth, rather than re-investing most of its successful funding programs in the same companies time after time, then it must push towards where the growth is.

The growth is in the small to medium business (SME) area.

My frustration is not only this, but the frustration that the grants available are being purposely targeted to the large companies, starving this sector of much-needed support and funding at a time when our world economy is under pressure, and at a time when we have many business growth segments in our society that cannot be supported because of this lack of funding.

One good example is in exports. Government departments and agencies at Federal, State, and even local government level, are all dedicated to expanding exports. Austrade has offices that reach out into local government areas, and are often aligned with business development areas created by State Governments. In most grant situations, government ask for export potential or export achievements as part of their funding process.

Many small to medium companies can demonstrate a pathway to exports, and many of them can even demonstrate exports (due to the growth of online e-based commerce) that have added to the bottom line, even in early years of growth.

However, the problem is that under the Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) currently administered by Austrade, many of the small to medium companies can get very little return on funding for their export effort. This inhibits their ability or their desire to go into exports.

I have worked in exports for 32 years, and I find it very disappointing that a company that makes strides to captivate or follow up on export leads, or even to visit markets and create export opportunities, gets very little funding under the current EMDG.

Under this grant, a company gets $10,000 deducted immediately from any export expenditures to pursue export opportunities. If they travel overseas, say to Japan or America, attend a trade fair, follow up with another visit, which is usual in the first year of operation and necessary for business development and relationship creation, then that first $10,000 is easily spent. At this stage, they have received no extra funding. They are at zero return. If they send samples, entertain an inbound visitor in Melbourne (which most of them do not do because they are not very inbound conscious), or they complete another trip overseas within the yearly period stipulated by Austrade, they might get up to $15,000 or $17,000 in eligible EMDG expenditure.

Taking out an odd side trip for a visit, which is usual when most people go overseas, they may be able to claim $15,000. In total, they will be lucky to get 50% of the $5,000 they can claim (remember $10,000 comes off the initial claim), leaving them with $2,500 for their effort.

It is no wonder that small business is disillusioned with the government. Consultants such as ourselves often find it hard to convince small businesses to get proactively involved with exports. It’s no wonder that small business considers that the grant returns are not really substantial, and not worth seeking when, on a daily basis, they are fighting for cash flow, trying to achieve high levels of growth, and trying to stay afloat in their initial growth years despite any huge growth in the actual market segment in which they compete.

Governments should make an exception for small businesses or emerging businesses, and they should make it more lucrative for them to achieve these grants. Large businesses, by the nature of their size, can afford to put $50,000 into an export opportunity, send three staff to a trade show to man the booth etc., and can easily achieve a $25,000 or $30,000 rebate from Austrade, giving them a powerhouse for future export growth based upon their initial investment and export thrust funded with the help of the government.

It is difficult for a small business struggling to get overseas with $15,000 - $20,000, to make this initial leap, and to gain the necessary “beachhead” for export growth.

We are an island. We depend on exports. Exports are essential for our future growth, and we must have exports that are greater than the materials we take out of the ground. We need an export market grant that truly reflects the nature of our business today in Australia, and the tremendous growth that small business creates for Australia today. In the future, it is the SME vision that underpins our growth, not the large end of town consisting of the major corporations.

We also need an emphasis on urban and regional SME growth with creative and contributing grants. By definition, large organisations have had their contribution and should be self-funding.

If you are interested in strategic advice on exports and the Export Market Development Grant, please call us on 03 9853 1899, or email us on: comedge@comedge.com.au

A.I.D.A. IS A GOOD MODEL FOR WEB COPY

Developing good copy for the web page has been more of an art than a science.

When the web first began, people loaded on as much copy as they could to try to entice people to come to their site to find a company that is secure and comfortable for them to deal with, and one that can develop online relationships while still providing the quick search for products and services.

Unfortunately this bold attempt, especially by companies often providing their own copy that is not well written or well researched, has tended to persist. Because website enhancement and design often means re-jigging the website by an IT or web designer company that does not have great copy skills, capability or competency, the original copy is still used and re-used, sometimes in an abridged form. New websites and re-enhanced ones often lack the effectiveness that web-based new copy could bring to the site.

A great framework for developing copy is A.I.D.A.

This has been a framework used by salesforce and advertising consultants and agencies over the years. It is probably 100 years old, and it lays down the way in which you develop copy or develop the framework for a sale.

The key elements of A.I.D.A. are:

1. Attention. It is important to get the customer’s attention. This is the key first step because you cannot close the sale or satisfy the consumer unless you get their Attention. This ensures they become interested, committed and involved with you online, face-to-face, or through the development of written copy.

2. Interest. Once you have their Attention, which is usually a 30-second period of time (what a coincidence that most consumers only spend 30 seconds on average on a web page), it is then important that you maintain their Interest.


This is best done through a number of strategies in face-to-face selling, printed copy, and on the web. Such strategies can include:

1. Creating a unique appeal by statements in the opening Home Page copy or introduction copy that leads directly to Interest for the consumer, and a desire to read the Products & Services sector or some other major sector in the website.
2. A link to another website or to a particular branded service that the consumer may consider in pre-purchase and search behaviour.
3. Provocative statements that aim for higher performance, greater efficiencies, better savings, better technology, better innovation, etc.
4. Excellent Flash pictures and visuals that demonstrate a successful company and one with high Interest that creates consumer confidence to proceed further with the website.
5. Testimonials or quotes, even on the Home Page, that create enough Interest to move forward with further web page exploration.

3. Desire. The Desire part of a web page is similar to the Desire part of a sales presentation. In a sales presentation you only have approximately 1.5 minutes to get the customer’s interest if you are selling face-to-face. On a web page, this may be as little as 25-50 seconds. No matter what the situation, the process is the same. You cannot build the Desire to purchase a product or service unless you have gone through the Attention and Interest stages. This is critical.

If you are successful in getting to the Desire stage then, because there is already Attention and Interest, there is no nagging tendency to continue searching other sites until you have fully explored the site you are on. You may have as much as one minute to build this Desire.

You, yourself, may actually be able to reflect on the “Desire” copy stage by examining your own use of websites. For instance, you may have gone into sites and even explored the payment gateway and clicked through the payment gateway without committing, just to see how the process works, or to see the range of products and services available. You may have also clicked on an airline ticket offer and gone all the way to the end without committing, just to see how it works without building Desire. The same with accommodation and other services such as cosmetics, cosmetic surgery and a whole range of products.

Professional buyers are no different in that regard. They also have a desire to complete a professional procurement, and this can happen with engineering, architectural and other products.

The building of Desire may involve sampling the process without submitting a final order if there is a payment gateway, or if there is a phone number or contact page that asks for further action. This does not mean that because the Desire has been aroused and there have been trial purchases online, that they will go to a final action stage. It is just part of the Desire process.

The point is that you must have a way of being able to transmit Attention and Interest from your site to Desire and Action. Let’s go to Action.

4. Action. This is the most important point because it is the basis of commercial and government business. If you raise Attention, Interest and build Desire, you are obviously trying to get the consumer to take Action in some way. If you start a sales process and do not have an Action page, then it ends up not being a sales-based process, but a conversation or viewing-based process in which there is no needed or desired outcome.

To do this in business is to waste time and resources, and is a failure to drive customers to the bottom line to the detriment of the business’ viability.

What you must do in every website is to sit down and say, “What are the 5-6 actions that you would like customers to take?”, and then to try to build this into your website copy, and into the navigation and architecture behind your website.

Such Actions can include the following:

1. A call to Action. To allow them to actually print off print-ready material on the website that can lead to application forms or further action, which may mean going to an office or calling a company etc.
2. Actual Action, which involves purchasing on a payment gateway.
3. Action that can include a search for further information. This can mean ticking boxes on the Contact Page, asking for someone to call the customer, searching or asking for further material, or gaining specifications etc. This is best done in a speedy fashion by having boxes that are ticked, rather than having people to fill in lengthy emails to request information in their own words.
4. Getting customers to receive an email that can be marketing-based and can encourage an actual sale, even though this has not been asked for directly on the website.
5. Getting customers to visit your place of business, and to engage in some way through special offers, promotions or retail clubs etc.
6. Asking customers to purchase a specific product or service on an annualized basis – e.g. joining fitness clubs, sports clubs or team events, registering for car clubs, courses etc.

So review your web copy now for the Attention, Interest, Desire and Action stages.