The Net People

FaceBook Advertisements

2011-10-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

There is no question that Facebook is a popular social media site and it can work for your business as well. Setting up a Facebook page for your business is quick, simple and free.

You can then integrate some Facebook gadgets to your site to gain better exposure and show your site visitors how many Facebookers like your site.

A friend who operates a successful small business was approached by a IT consultant who offered a Facebook business site service for only $800 to set up and $900 a month to tailor advertisements to particular postcodes.

This is concerning. Firstly, Facebook business site setup is FREE and charging $800 for doing is little more than THEFT. Secondly, you cannot target Facebook ads to postcodes! You can point them to major suburbs, but not postcodes.

People, if you need a Facebook business site, set it up yourself. It's free and easy to do. If you want Facebook Ads, of course you'll need to pay for them, but set them up and tailor the ads to be affordable for you, limit the cost of each ad, and limit the number of clicks to your budget.

Don't let some business dupe you into parting with thousands of dollars for something you can do for FREE!

Have you been $tung by an $EO company?

2011-10-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

I was recently speaking to a colleague of mine who had just paid for a new web site for his business.   The site was nice, but he paid too much for it.    He also signed up with an SEO company, who offered unbelievable promises with regards to his site ranking on Google.   $500 setup and $250 a month for them to help his site get better ranking on Google.

I was horrified at not only what he was being charged, but at the promised made to him, for a Number 1 Google listing.    I told my friend that they could possibly be using content farms to list his site higher, and I was stunned when he replied, "Yep, that's what the company said it would do."

Content farming is against Google's rules, and if your site is involved with it they may remove your site from Google.

There are SEO companies out there who are ripping people off, making outlandish promises and charging absurd fees.    Don't be stung!   SEO is not difficult to do, and most people with some basic web site knowledge can do it themselves for free!

Before you sign up to anything like this, please speak to someone in the know.   I don't mean speak to us, speak to anyone who has some experience with this type of thing.   We hate seeing people taken advantage of simply because they don't know better.

Site Design - Does it matter all that much?

2011-02-24T16:04:00.000-08:00

Your business should have a site that is well designed, easy for users to navigate and that provides all the information they need without too much information.

On the first page of your site, the visitor should know instantly what type of business you operate, and have information on services/products and an indication of price, presented in an easy to follow way.

But does the design really have that much effect? The simple answer is, no.

Provided your site has the information customers need, and the site is clean and simple, there is no need to go overboard with graphics or items like Flash headers. One good reason for this is loading time; the more graphics and "eye candy" on your site, the longer it will take to load.

Also consider too, that Google announced that page load times are going to be a factor in your page ranking. View the article here

Your customers will care a lot more about your content and prices than whether your site design makes them feel warm and fuzzy.

Dirty Secrets of SEO

2011-02-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting article we found regarding Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

You can view this New York Times article here

The bottom line is, be wary of those offering "Guaranteed #1 Google ranking", some of whom will charge you thousands of dollars for the service, only to be busted by Google for so called "black hat" SEO practices.

"Content Farms" are also something to be acutely aware of. A high number of articles, linked to or from your site that are poor quality, irrelevant or just not really that interesting will certainly improve your ranking on search engines, however SEO companies doing this will be detected and dealt with by Google. If your SEO people tell you about "a lot of quality articles linking to your site to improve ranking" - BEWARE!

You could find yourself on the wrong end of the search pages!

Welcome!

2011-02-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome to The Net People Blog!

Check back for regular articles of interest to our customers and everyone else.