For those who didn’t know, Google is launching a new version of it’s search engine. Codenamed ‘Caffeine’ the new engine is being lined up as Google’s answer to Bing, Microsoft’s newly launched search engine.

Caffeine was actually in production before the launch of Bing and is definitely ahead of the game with it’s improvements.

Ben Parr over at Mashable did a detailed test comparing the new with the old. There were some interesting results with Google taking a step closer to real-time search results i.e. “news as it happens”.

The test analyzed results in four categories; Speed, Accuracy, Temporal Relevance and Index size.

In summary, Ben’s results were as follows:

New Google is FAST: It often doubled the speed of Google classic.

New Google relies more on keywords: SEO professionals, your job just got a lot harder. The algorithm’s definitely different. It has more reliance on keyword strings to produce better results.

Search is moving into real-time: Being able to get info on breaking events is clearly a priority for Google and Bing. With both Twitter and Facebook launching real-time search engines, they needed to respond.

It’s partially a response to Bing: At least, that’s how we feel. This new search has a focus on increasing speed, relevancy, accuracy, and the index volume, things that Microsoft really hit on when it released Bing. It feels as if Google “Caffeine” is meant to shore up any deficiencies it may have when compared to Microsoft’s offering, though it’s been in the works long before Bing launched.

Good afternoon all, Eoghan here. I’ve just read a really good article from Smashing Magazine talking about 10 harsh truths of corporate blogging. It really hits home on some extremely important facts that I and indeed all of us here explain on a daily basis.

Some keys points that really resonated with me were:

1. A blog does not magically generate traffic.
This attitude comes from the “build it and they will come” perspective that a lot of businesses new to the internet would have. A website just like any other marketing channel needs to be promoted or advertised to really generate traffic.

The “magic” blogs have is largely two-fold. Firstly, engaging your customers, prospects and other industry professionals with good content will start you on the track to becoming a trusted resource in their eyes, thus leading to a regular readership.

Secondly, the way blogs are technically built naturally lends itself to SEO. In other words, its a like a big cake for Google to eat. Tags, categories, post titles and comments all provide a vast amount of seemingly different content. This perceived extra content gives you additional page rank to work with which increases your ability to rank well in the natural search listings.

2. A good corporate blog requires long term commitment
This is another crucial cog in the wheel. For all of the above to function or even matter blogging must be done on a consistent basis. To become a trusted resource, gain readership and gain search listings you really need to provide good content and your own perspective regularly.

Like many things, developing your readership is like a snow ball. If you roll it once, it won’t get very big. But if you just continue pushing it very quickly it will grow quite large. Rather than viewing it as a chore or a mammoth task, simply commit to putting time aside even once a week. This way you can write several posts and schedule them over time.

Like any skill, at first it might be difficult but with practise it will begin to flow effortlessly.

3. You sound like a faceless corporation
The last point I’d like to touch on is also very important, sounding like a faceless corporation. Blogging is about personality and perhaps that is what makes it so successful. People connect with other people, personalitys, stories. This is really what engages people. Any brand developer will tell you that.

Think about it. As a child growing up what were the most effective teaching methods? Or maybe I should say, of those methods which did you enjoy the most? I’d put my money down that you probably engaged more with the likes of ‘Ann and Barry’ who made mistakes which taught you lessons rather than learning your ‘times tables’ by rote.

Your blog gives your people a chance to shine and converse with your clients and readers. It’s a chance to step away a little from your marketing message and show everyone that you’re not an automic anonymous machine but actually real people with individual opinions and insight. Obviously the blogging style of your employees should be in keeping with your brand persona and audience all the while expressing their individuality.

Having said that, there are seven more points made, all of which are relevant and noteworthy.

What are your experiences with blogging? Have you seen a turn-around in your clients? Do you get more enquiries from ‘ideal’ customers? Post your comments below.

Literally minutes ago Rich Schefren launched his new Founders Club. Rich has been hired for his business building strategies by world renown companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Motley Fool and Weiss Financial. His advice and strategies can be implemented by both ‘the one man band’ and multi-million turnover companies alike.

I have been using his free reports and paid content for over a year now with excellent results. This advice really is gold and if you’re interested in leveraging your time and getting serious growth in your business you really need to check this out.

To be clear, I’ve no vested interest here, in fact I just signed up myself!

Oh and that paid content I mentioned, he’s giving all of it free to founders club members. Here’s the link again: The Founders Club (PS. There’s a 50% discount during the launch phase)

How does that sound? To some it might sound pie in the sky but as you will see, it’s quite achieveable.

Ed Dale and Dan Raine have just begun their ‘30 Day Challenge‘ for the third year running. The challenge aims to help everyone involved to go from having no idea and no experience, through the research and set up steps involved in getting themselves or their business online and making it’s first dollar.

The advice and expertise included in the challenge content is top class and I think it’s absolutely fantastic that it’s offered up free of charge. Ed Dale and Dan Raine are serial online entreprenuers with a list of successful ventures over the years.

If you’re considering taking this step at all for yourself or your business, you definitely should have a look at this brief video from Dan and sign up for this content.

I promise you’ll like it!

Good morning! Having fully decided to pursue the ‘video route’ we’ve put together an introduction for you. Eoghan will give you a bit of background on us and tell you what kind of content we’re going to have for you on the blog - all subject to your feedback of course!

Take a look…

So, get in touch with us, let us know what you’d really love to see on here!

Hey, we came across this excellent article that sums up the main points you really need to be aware of when optimizing a landing page. (For those who aren’t sure, a landing page is a page you direct people to such as the page an advert would point to etc.)

The main points to keep in mind are:

1. It should be easy to scan through
2. Dont get your visitor distracted!
3. Decide whether or not to use a fold (page longer than the screen)
4. Consider if you are gathering unnecessary data (extra form fields)
5. Use white space effectively!

They’re the most important elements, you can get 5 more tips and additional break down on them here.

Let us know if you found this useful!

In any website, there are two things it must do in order to make sales for you. When I say make sales, this could mean generating enquiries, selling a book or selling a $5,000 course. The same things need to happen in each case.

You need to build desire and trust.
Click here to read more »

After reading a post on 121BizNet, we came across possibly one of the strangest viral videos of late. The guys over at Goodbiz.ie have come up with a great video to promote their new membership server.

It works so effectively due mostly to how interesting the concept is. Who doesn’t want to listen to a song like that just to hear what harmony they are going to come up with next?

That is the magic.

Video marketing like this works when one, it keeps your attention so that you’ll notice the brand behind it and two, its so quirky and interesting that you feel inspired to pass it on. Genius.

Goodbiz.ie have been set up to promote best practices among Irish businesses, predominately paying on time!

In current times I think it is fair to say that few industries have been hit as hard as property development. Market changes like this serve to focus us all on our most cost effective, ROI producing marketing methods. In fact, the California Association of Realtors discovered in their 2008 Use of Technology survey that Realtors attributed 48% of their 2008 business to the Web — an increase of 4% over the previous year.

Seeing business and more importantly sales move online so clearly it is important to make sure that you have a professional website that speaks to your prospects and gently takes them through the research and buying processes. Your website should immediately establish a relationship with your customers and build on it through each communication.

More importantly though, you need to be positioned well through search engine optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click ads (PPC) and traditional offline marketing to capture these prospects in the first place.

Pictures paint a thousand words so below you’ll find a graph showing what top marketers feel about the ROI of different Internet Marketing techniques. The larger the circle, the more budget required.

You’ll see that Paid Search (PPC), Email to your own lists and SEO produce the best return on investment.

Hope this helps you make some decisions and make the best of this ‘disaster’ in the property world. As always, you can ask us a question.

Return on Investment of Online Marketing techniques

Following on from our post on ‘Deep Linking your PPC ads‘, here are 5 tips to improve your conversion on your website.

1. Sales copy works. Copy has proven time and time again to be the major factor in keeping a visitor and getting them to follow your call to action. Headlines are most often the first thing a visitor sees so make sure it’s relevant and don’t be afraid to test different ones.

2. Standard Blue Links often work better. Despite how gaudy they can appear, more users are familiar with the standard bright blue links with an underline. They have been shown to work better than other variations so where possible it’s a good idea to use them. Colour changing when a user hovers over them also increases their conversion.

3. Awful photos can kill. Photos that have been thrown into a web page with no regard to sizing or the layout will  do terrible things to the productivity of that page. Apart from being uncomfortable to look at, it presents a careless, unprofessional image and breaks down the trust your visitor has with you.

4. Attractive women sell. I know, I know, it sounds sexist right? Well regardless of equality, tests would show that more often than not, tasteful pictures of attractive young women work better in most markets. It’s not a one size fits all solution but depending on your market, this should definately be considered when putting together your brochures or acquiring stock photos.

5. Black text on white. Unless you’re a gamer, brooding in the basement, don’t go there.