Are you monitoring what people are saying about your company and products online? Is anyone even talking about your business?

Without the right tools, it can be a nightmare trying to keep tabs on who’s saying what and where they’re saying it.

And if you can’t see what they’re saying and where they’re saying it, how are you supposed to engage in the conversation which is one of the keys to social media marketing.

So to make your life easier, I’ve highlighted 5 tools below that you should be using in 2012 to monitor your businesses social media presence (or your personal social media presence).

1. Social Mention – A site that offers real-time social media search and analysis. It’s very easy to use and features the most common indicators of social media activity (strength, sentiment, passion and reach).
2. Google alerts – Google alerts allows you to set up search queries for keywords and then will  email/RSS feed you whenever it finds those keywords. Start with keywords that include your company name, products, and your URL.
3. Search.twitter.com – Here you can search for keywords or phrases and view those mentions (up to two weeks) as they occur on Twitter. Once you find relevant keywords you can subscribe via RSS feed.
4. Addict-o-matic – this site creates a custom web page which aggregates the latest buzz on your company or products from a variety of sources including major search engines, YouTube, Flickr etc.
5. BoardReader – this search service scours all the forum and bulletin boards on the web, delivering mentions and comments about your business. And yes, lots of people still use forums – so don’t ignore them.

There’s quite a few others out there, and many premium services that will offer clever analytics and graphical representation of your social media presence.

At the very least , these will cover 80% of whats being said about you and/or your brand online – and they’re free!

What a great little infographic to help explain the myriad of changes made through Google’s Panda Updates – and some tips on how to improve your sites performance in light of the changes.

Thanks to the team at Singlegrain for creating the infographic.

We found this nifty little infographic this morning. The clever people over at Flowtown and Column Five have put it together.

While it misses a few obvious networks (e.g Linkedin), it’s a great primer for small business owners getting into social media.

Enjoy.

Chrome is quickly making up ground in the browser wars…and for good reason. It’s simple, fast and comes with some awesome extensions and add-ons.
I made the move across from Firefox to Chrome about 12 months ago and haven’t looked back.

If you’re a website owner, you might want to start using Chrome and these extensions to help monitor and improve your website.

SEO for Chrome

The SEO for Chrome extensions provides easy access to Search Engine Optimization Tools that can help you with Competitive Analysis, Keyword Research, Backlink Checks, PageRank Checks and other daily SEO tasks.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/oangcciaeihlfmhppegpdceadpfaoclj

Site Information Tool – 1.0

Shows information about the current page (PageRank, Alexa rank, IP info, server response headers, whois and other SEO parameters)

http://www.chromeextensions.org/webmaster-seo/site-information-tool/

Resolution Test

Resolution Test changes the size of the browser window for developers to preview their websites in different screen resolutions. It includes a list of commonly used resolutions and the ability to customise that list.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/idhfcdbheobinplaamokffboaccidbal/details

Speed Tracer

Speed Tracer is a tool to help you identify and fix performance problems in your web applications. It visualizes metrics that are taken from low level instrumentation points inside of the browser and analyzes them as your application runs.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ognampngfcbddbfemdapefohjiobgbdl

Chrome Sniffer

This extension will help web developer to inspect web framework / CMS and javascript library running on current browsing website. An icon will appear on address bar indicates the detected framework. Version detecting is being implemented.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/homgcnaoacgigpkkljjjekpignblkeae

That’s just some of the extensions I use regularly when surfing the web and managing my websites. There’s plenty more great extensions which you can explore in the chrome store:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions

Just a word of warning… don’t leave all your extensions active all the time, or Chrome will eat up your system resources. Turn them on when you need them for a better surfing experience.

Yep…it’s a new year, and everyone’s made their resolutions…

If you’re like many business owners, you’ve probably committed to improving your web presence in 2012 …and why wouldn’t you – it’s promising to be bigger and better online than ever before…

So to help you kick start your online resolutions – here’s a quick little check list to ensure your website’s more successful in 2012.

1. Content Review
When was the last time you updated the content on your website? Is it still telling the right story about your products and services?

It’s time to give your content a polish. Take down the old promos, add some new persuasive copy, converse with your audience and even make sure you have the current copyright at the bottom of your website (how many sites still have 1998 on them).

2. Image Makeover
Images tell a significant story about your business, products and services. Rather than keeping those grainy dark images from years ago or plastering your website with stock photos that every other website is using, invest in getting some clear bright and most importantly relevant image up.

3. There’s More to Media Than Pictures
It’s 2012 people. Yes images are great, but your audience expects to be wowed by other exciting interactive elements on your website.
Why not get started with a simple video about your business or products….or if you want to get tricky…there’s slideshows, podcasts, PDFs etc.

4. Get Social Already
It’s not new and and buzz isn’t dying anytime soon. Social media is here to stay whether you like it or not. More importantly, your customers are using it, so it’s now essential for your business.

At the very least you should have links to your Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin accounts on your website. But even better, use the tools available and integrate the conversations your having in social media on your website and encourage visitors to get involved.

5. Keep It Simple and Focused
As website’s evolve, they often expand and try to say too much. Bombarding visitors with a barrage of info irrespective of there they are in their journey through your site.

It’s important to give people the right information at the right time on your website. By removing the clutter and confusion you’ll do a better job of guiding them to where you need them to be.

6. Call for action
Visitors all too often they just need to be prodded. If you don’t ask them to do something, there’s a good chance they won’t.

Whether it’s buying your products, signing up for your newsletter or downloading your catalogue, make sure you make it obvious that action is required. Subtlety doesn’t work. Make your calls to action loud and proud.

7. Where’s the trust
There’s 100 billion trillion websites out there, and probably 100’s of competitors in your industry alone. So who should your visitors trust?

Unless you take the time to build trust, they’ll go elsewhere. Add trust builder like awards, certifications and safety/security affiliations to your website so they know straight away that you’re the people to trust.

8. Make it Snappy
Internet users are like fish…short attention spans. So they’re not forgiving of websites that take years to load. Almost everyone has access to fast internet, so the onus is on you to ensure your website loads fast and without errors.

Look at how your website is built, optimize the size of images/media and even reconsider your hosting. It often doesn’t take much to give your website a tune up.

9. No Rabbitholes
No one likes getting lost on a website, so your navigation is paramount. Make it obvious how to get to the bits of content your visitors want to find. And sometimes more importantly, how to get back to where they’ve been.

Some things to consider to improve useability include reviewing your main navigation menu, implementing breadcrumb navigation, sitemaps and even a website search function.

10. “Flash”iness??
Flash on website is soon going to be a thing of the past. Especially when we consider that more and more people are looking at your website from devices like iPhones and iPads.

There’s a range of new technology like HTML5 that does a great job of providing interactivity whilst still working on Apple devices. So if you site is covered in Flash…perhaps 2012 is time for a change.

11. Mobile is Now

Every man and his dog has a smartphone it seems. And they’re using them to view your website (well perhaps not the dogs).

So it’s important that you check your website renders properly on mobile devices. There’s many things you can do to improve the mobile readiness of your website without having to go down the path of creating mobile sites or apps.

And that’s a wrap. A short and sweet Website Success Checklist for 2012. My tip is to review your website with the checklist above and plan out the changes gradually over the coming months.

When you break the overhaul process into smaller pieces, you’re more likely to get it done.

And most importantly, don’t be one of those business owners that breaks their 2012 resolutions and neglects their website for another year.

Top 10 iPhone Apps for Small Business in 2011

As the end of the year draws closer, it’s always a time we reflect on the best and worst of the year that was.

Given all the time we’ve spent in the app and mobile space given the recent launch of our new mobile gaming company, I thought I’d share my Top 10 list of iPhone apps that made me more organised and more productive.

So here goes:

1. Freshbooks Minibooks -
MiniBooks puts your invoicing and your books in the palm of your hand. Manage clients, send invoices, enter payments, check on rates from past jobs, run timers, and much more, all from the palm of your hand.

2. Hootsuite -
HootSuite is a FREE app that helps you spread messages, monitor conversations, and track results – all from your handset. Simple, elegant and powerful, HootSuite for iPhone allows you to send updates to Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare from virtually anywhere.

3. To Do -
Todo® Task Manager for iPhone is a powerful set of tools that makes task management simple and fun. Use Todo on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, keep your tasks synchronized using Todo Online, a cloud sync service for tasks, or access your tasks on your desktop in iCal or Outlook by using Appigo Sync.

4. Google Docs -
With the mobile version of Google Docs you can access your document list, create, search, sort and filter your documents on the go. Edits you make on your mobile device will appear to other collaborators in seconds. You can also view your documents, PDFs, images and more through the mobile Google Docs Viewer and even print on the go
using Google Cloud Print.

5. Flipboard -
Inspired by the beauty of print and the simple action of flipping pages, Flipboard gives readers one place to enjoy the stories, photos, news and updates being shared across social networks. And now, re-designed for when and where people use the phone, Flipboard for iPhone takes this a step further with a fast, beautiful interface and Cover Stories, a brand new feature debuting with Flipboard for iPhone.

6. Team Viewer -
With the TeamViewer app for Apple iOS and for Android you are able to access remote computers from everywhere. It allows you to give spontaneous support as well as having permanent access to unattended computers.

7. Dropbox -
Bring your files with you when you’re on the go, Add files to your Favorites for fast, offline viewing, Easily upload photos and videos to Dropbox and Share freely with colleagues, friends and family.

8. Evernote -
Evernote for iPhone lets you create notes, snap photos, and record voice memos that you can then access any time from your iPhone, computer, or the web.

9. Skype
Skype on your iphone gives you access to all Skype’s great features on the go including Free Skype-to-Skype calling over 3G and WiFi, talk face-to-face or show what you’re seeing with your iPhone 4’s front- and rear-facing cameras.

10. Square
I haven’t had a chance to use this one yet, but I think it’ll really make waves next year. It allows you to accept credit card payments via your iPhone and at rates much lower than most merchant services – mobile or otherwise.

And that’s a wrap. Of course there’s been 100’s of great other apps launched this year, so why not tell us which ones you’ve been using in 2011.
     

Our friends over at Bing recently posted about the 9 areas of your website which you should be able to control as a website owner.

Whether you control them directly or you can influence them through your web developer is irrelevant…as long as you can have changes made in a reasonable timeframe.

This is list is especially useful for people who are in the process of developing a new website or redeveloping their existing website….

So here goes (in no particular order)

• Rel=canonical

“Being able to tell the engine which version of your URL you’d like to have attributed as the original is pretty useful.  This handy command can help you build value on the version of the URL that matters most to you, and help combine value attributed to many version of the URL into one location, helping boost the rank of that one, original version of the URL.”

Put simply, I don’t know how many times I’ve seen websites where the URLs http://www.yourdomain.com and http://yourdomain.com are pointing to separate versions of the same page. What an SEO nightmare. Get control of the Rel=canonical control and avoid this obvious mistake across your website.

• Robots.txt

“Seems like a no-brainer, this one, but so many websites remain without a robots.txt file.  In some cases it’s a purely missed opportunity, or the site owner is unaware of what a robots.txt file is.  In other cases, though, it’s the inability to place a file on the root of your domain.”

A robots.txt is a vital control for your website. It helps you restrict access, avoid duplicate content indexing and also minimizes bandwidth usage. For a detailed rundown on robot.txt usage – check out The Definitive Guide to Robots.txt for SEO

• Sitemap.xml

“This is another file missing from a huge number of websites today.  Another important file the search crawlers look for.  One that is referenced inside the robots.txt mentioned above, and one which can help get more of your pages into the search index.  Overall, it’s almost as important as the robots.txt file, and if you cannot place these files in a location the crawlers can find, you need to fix this issue.”

Beyond helping more of your site get indexed, it also helps control how often the search engines return to re-index your website – which in the world of “real-time” search, is vital. Your sitemaps can also be submitted directly to the search engines.

• Rich Snippets

“Marking up your content has been around for a few years now, and with the launch earlier this year ofwww.schema.org, the major engines have made a clear statement there is value in marking up your content.  By embedding these elements in your page code, we can extract information more accurately and use that information to provide increasingly richer search results.”

While semantic mark up still hasn’t become a mainstream practice, it’s definitely the future of web development. The implementing this mark up is surely going to help you being indexed more accurately in the search engines.

• Title, Description, Alt Tags, etc.

“Managing your title tags, meta descriptions, alt tags, etc. is still important.  All these basic, on page/technical seo factors add up to help us understand what your content is relevant for.  The bottom line with these items is you need to be able to manage them.  If you cannot change these elements on a per-page basis, you lack needed control. “

Did someone say SEO 101 – if you haven’t got control of these page elements, you are so far behind the game its not funny. This stuff is the absolute basics…

• Content

“This might seem pretty obvious, but with so many website still aggregating content or using article services to build out pages, its worth mentioning.  We talked about how to build good content a little while back and the value of “article-site content”, but we still see websites trying to get ahead in the rankings by basing their websites on a thin content model.”

If you have a website where you can’t control content, let alone create new content – it’s time for change. Content is still the king. And if you’re developing a new website, dont even consider a developer that isn’t offering some level of content management – period!

• Verification access

“This is pretty straight forward.  You need to be able to place the verification code in place to use webmaster tools.  This could be in the form of embedding a tag in the <head> code of your webpage, or by a notation added in the DNS for the website.”

The webmaster tool services offered by the search engines are a key part of any website owners toolkit. If you can’t verify – you can’t enjoy the benefits.

• UX improvements

“If you don’t have a website your visitors love, you’re missing an opportunity.  Get cracking on a user experience review and see where you’re bleeding users.  By staying tuned in to what users like and dislike about your website, you can make the myriad small changes needed to field a UX-winning site.”

Even though this is slightly more advanced…it’s vital intelligence. With the range of great tools that offer this info (think Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer), website owners have no excuses in being negligent of UX improvement.

• Social sharing integration

“This almost goes without saying, but we still see so many websites not involved socially with their visitors.  Social isn’t going away folks, and while it does take work, skipping social integration is a missed opportunity.  People share what they like with friends.  If you have social sharing icons embedded in your pages, you are much more likely to get shared by visitors.”

Social is what takes your web presence to the next level. If you’re not making it easy for your visitors to share, refer and discuss your business, you’re giving your competitors a massive advantage. Social implementation is fairly simple these days…so embrace it!

So that’s the 9 essential optimization controls…If you want to read the added info that Bing provided…head over to their blog post.

Google finally took the wraps of their Google Plus pages for business last week. So now it’s time for you to jump on board and create this vital web presence for your business.

We’ve collated this quick guide on how to optimise your business’ Google Plus page for better rankings and results – just so you get it right from the outset.

How to Optimize Google Plus pages for Business

Step 1 – Set Up Your Google Plus Page

To get started, go to: Create a Page on Google+ (this assumes you have a Google personal profile already). Then select your category:

• Local Business or Place
• Product or Brand
• Company, Institution or Organization
• Arts, Entertainment or Sports
• Other

For most company’s you’ll either select “Local Business” or “Company, Institution or Organisation.

Then simply fill out the details on the “add your info” page to create your basic Google Plus page.

Step 2 – Upload Your Page Image and Tagline

The next step in the process will be adding a profile image and tagline. in 99% of cases, your main image will be your logo.

Make sure you add an image with a keyword optimized file name (e.g. ineedhits-seo.jpg), and in cases where you dont have a branded tagline for your business – use it as an opportunity to add a keyword relevant slogan/message.

After this step, it’ll ask you to share your page with your networks/circles. Just hit next, and you can share later once your profile is fully optimized.

Step 3 – Provide an optimized description/introduction of your business

Once you’ve completed the previous step, you’ll be taken to a screen with a choice of posting, sharing and networking options. Near the top left of the options you’ll see the name of your page in grey. Click on this and then click the blue “edit” button on the next screen.

You’ll then be shown an editable version of your “about” info.

The first step is adding an introduction/description for your business. It’s key for you to create a spiel that’s both marketing savvy and SEO friendly. So make sure you have the right mix of keyword density and compelling copy.

Step 4 – Contact info

This goes without saying…make it easy for visitors to your page to contact your business. Give them all your contact details.

Step 5 – Add your website details

You’ll normally add your main business website in this section, which is nice link back to your website from an SEO perspective.

Step 6 – Link to Relevant Profiles and Sites

Here you can add links back to your business’ other social media profiles and websites. Of course this section can add credibility to your profile, so feel free to add links to qualifications, industry bodies etc…

Step 7 – Add business related images

On your page, there will be 5 images displayed above your description and business information. So upload 5 images (optimized for SEO of course) that are a strong reflection of your brand (e.g. product images, other main logos, your premises or even get creative and use the 5 images to create a banner).

Step 8 – Build Your Network/Circles and Start Sharing & Posting

Once your Google Plus page is finished, it’s time to start engaging with the Google Plus community. For your business page, you can create circles (networks), start posting information and news through your feed and importantly add your Google Plus page details to your existing website, other networks and share it through your media channels.

So that’s it…a super quick guide to making your new Google Plus Business pages stand out …

We all frantically look for new sources of traffic, but often neglect one of the most important factors in online marketing – the conversion of that traffic on our web pages.

So with the holiday season only months away, here’s a toolkit to help you give your website conversion “check up”…

To make it easy to navigate, I’ve create a range of Top 10 conversion Lists below-

• Top 10 Conversion Tips
• Top 10 Conversion Guides
• Top 10 Conversion Tools

Top 10 conversion tips

1. Stay Focused – it’s important to keep pages focused on one topic and one main objective. Too often web pages try to be cover too many topics and achieve too many things which is a conversion killer.
2. Loud Obvious Calls to Action – don’t assume visitors will know what to do. Make it obvious and ask for an action. “Call today”, “Sign up Now”, “Download Your Copy” etc.
3. Testimonials – People like to know others have tried and tested your services, and testimonials are a great way to remove potential buyer concerns.
4. What’s In It For Me (WIIFM) – Design your page from a user perspective. what do they need to know to feel comfortable doing business with you. Benefits NOT features!
5. Understand and Guide the Eye – People generally read web pages in a similar way. So your page should be designed so they see all the right content in the right places.
6. Multiple Ways to Engage Your Business – If you give people a few ways to engage your business you’ll ensure you cover off all your potential buyer types. e.g web forms, phone numbers etc
7. Mirror Your Market – the design and tone of your web pages should reflect your target market. don’t trying selling premium products with a cheap and nasty looking page.
8. Compelling Copy – you only get a few seconds to capture the visitors attention, so your copy needs to be persuasive and compelling. Converse with your audience – don’t shout at them
9. Build TRUST - Trust is critical to conversions. So invest in adding trust builder into your web page e.g. credentials, affiliations, privacy policies, return policies, security etc
10. Test, Test  and Test – The key to conversion success is testing….never stop!

Top 10 Conversion Guides & Resources

Below are a list of 10 great resources and guides on website conversion. From beginner info to more advanced information on multivariate testing. All are worth a read as you embark on your conversion journey.

1. http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/landing-page-best-practices/
2. http://blog.kissmetrics.com/ab-testing-web-copy/
3. http://www.smartinsights.com/blog/web-design/perfect-landing-page/
4. http://www.amazon.com/Landing-Page-Optimization-Definitive-Conversions/dp/0470174625
5. http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ab-testing-conversion-rate-optimization-resources/
6. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/24/the-ultimate-guide-to-a-b-testing/
7. http://www.marketingexperiments.com/
8. http://rich-page.com/website-optimization/top-10-website-optimization-posts-of-2010/
9. http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/articles/101-google-website-optimizer-tips/
10. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-definitive-howto-for-conversion-rate-optimization

Top 10 Conversion Tools

Here’s a list of essential tools to help you get the best out of your conversion optimization efforts.

1. Crazy Egg – http://www.crazyegg.com/ Crazy Egg’s Confetti and Heatmap features are simple and affordable heat mapping tools that allow you to visually understand user behavior.
2. User Testing – http://www.usertesting.com/ UserTesting.com lets you “look over the shoulder” of people in your target audience while they use your website. And we make it fast, easy, and inexpensive, so you’re more likely to do it.
3. Feng GUI – http://feng-gui.com/ Services that empower designers and advertisers to effectively analyze Attention and Attraction in visuals.
4. Clicktale – http://www.clicktale.com/ Use ClickTale to analyze the performance of your online forms, keep visitors engaged in page content, and lead them through the conversion process.
5. Cross Browser Testing – http://crossbrowsertesting.com/ Browser testing made easy! Check your website’s cross browser compatibility in minutes!
6. Browser Size – http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/ Google Browser Size is a visualization of browser window sizes for people who visit Google.
7. Google Page Speed – http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/ Page Speed is an open-source project started at Google to help developers optimize their web pages by applying web performance best practices.
8. Kampyle – http://www.kampyle.com/ Kampyle’s feedback forms enable you to listen to the voice of customer and to improve customer satisfaction.
9. Google Website Optimizer – http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer Website Optimizer, Google’s free website testing and optimization tool, allows you to increase the value of your existing websites and traffic without spending a cent.
10. Google Analytics – www.google.com/analytics Google Analytics is the enterprise-class web analytics solution that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.

Perhaps now more than ever, it’s time for you to use Twitter to build your audience and promote your business.

The Twitter buzz has eased a bit with all the talk of Google + and Facebook, so those who are still using Twitter (and there’s millions of them) are a more captive audience.

For those of you wanting to know how to use Twitter more effectively for your business, here’s my top 7 tips for making it work!

• 1. Focus on Your Target Market

The first step is to understand who your target audience is. Communicating and engaging with the wrong people is a waste of time and effort.

• 2. Acquire Twitter followers

Now that you know who you want to be engaging with, you need to get out there and start acquiring followers. A good place to start is the people in your industry that have large spheres of influence. They’ll have large groups of followers that you can follow to start the engagement.

The larger your audience, the more likely you’ll find potential clients from your twitter marketing efforts.

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• 3. Engage with Your Twitter Followers

Effective Twitter marketing is all about engagement! NOT just broadcasting! The best way to cut through the clutter is to start discussions, ad value to conversations and share information. Just “pushing out” content alone will see you lose your captive audience.

Engagement takes on various forms, at the very least ensure you’re replying to your mentions, answering questions, using hastags, mentioning others in your messages.

To take your engagement to the next level, ask questions, hold competitions/contests, run surveys etc…give people a reason to engage with you.

• 4. Build Authority

One of the bets parts of Twitter is how quickly you can build your perceived authority in an industry. With some selective following and sharing and commenting on poignant industry information, you can quickly build your personal or business profile in the twittersphere.

• 5. Don’t SELL!!

Twitter is not aimed to be an obvious advertising platform. So don’t get caught in the trap of becoming impatient and then spamming your followers with a constant barrage of marketing messages. You’ll find your efforts to acquire customers will work better when you don’t sell directly.

• 6. Be Captivating

You’ve got 75 characters to get your point across…so dig deep and make sure you’re using your most persuasive writing skills to capture your audience’s attention. You need to make sure your content stands out from the clutter.

• 7. Be consistent

More often than not, small business owners go at hyperspeed for 2 weeks, twitting 100’s of times a day and then give up, because they don’t get immediate results. The key with twitter is to be persistent and measured. It’s rarely an instant ROI marketing channel – so take your time and keep focused on the long term bigger picture.

Twitter is not a set and forget marketing strategy, so don’t think it’ll be a silver bullet to your marketing needs…but with a well planned and strategic approach, it can really help you build your business.