Just two weeks after the Panda 4.1 update, Google has begun a worldwide rollout of an update to Penguin last Friday (October 17th). Penguin is an algorithm that targets websites that have unnatural backlinks.

As Google's Pierre Far mentioned on Google+ this "refresh" should help sites that cleaned the webspam that was discovered in the last Penguin update. And of course this update also hits the sites that have now been found to contain webspam.

The update is already referred to as Penguin 3.0 and will be rolled out over the next few weeks. It is said to impact about 1% of the English queries, but could affect other languages more or less

I do think that Google seem to focus on the negetive side of SEO too much and should backup a bit and reward sites that  positively focus on good practices and are content rich. Lately I have seen many You Tube videos pop up in the search and these are home made entertainment based videos. When I am searching, with a business based search parameter I dont expect my screen to be flooded by these types of videos. They do not represent the search results that I have put in and are there because they are well titled and that is all.

It is interesting to hear Google say in their release that "On Friday last week, we started rolling out a Penguin refresh affecting fewer than 1% of queries " - Exactly how many websites are affected by this........How about this , if 1% are affected then that would cause 100% of sites to be reshuffled.

Do you think you've been hit by this Penguin update or the recent Panda update and are you in need of help? Contact us at Barking Toad and we will do a review of your site.

Every once in a while, Google rolls out its Panda update, constantly refining it to improve the overall search quality. It’s a query based algorithm that’s supposed to remove redundant, irrelevant content and spam from Google’s index.

Last week, Google rolled out a Panda update that’s referred to as Panda 4.1. As our friends at SearchMetrics show, the losers are almost all thin content sites, among them lots of lyrics and game sites.

Your Marketing Mix

Barking Toad since 1993 has been at the forefront of marketing and Advertising in Northern NSW and boast an impressive client list that includes 6 Shire councils many election campaigns and a large number of local business, including Clubs and Events from the Tweed Shire.

Our team consists of graphic designers, illustrators, website builders, programmers and social media specialists. Collectively we can assist you with all your general marketing and online needs from static websites to Ecommerce, content managed systems (CMS) and customer relations packages.

Business Boot Camp Online Marketing

Toni Zuschke from Barking Toad will be covering the following topics;

• Research – Competition and Audience
• Strategy – Attract, Engage, Convert and Multiply
• Branding – Focussed, clear, brand message and competing
• Content – Relevant, brand driven and Organized
• Website Design – is it credible, usable and organized
• Website Development – Rich Media and Scalable

Michael Zuschke will be covering Internet Marketing in a whirlwind second half. Topics covered include;

• Search Engine Marketing – SEO and PPC
• Directories and Listings – Free listings v’s Paid Listings, Google Places, Ratings and Reviews & Lead generation
• Email Marketing – Lists, design & develop, deploy and measure
• Social Media Marketing – Social networks, Blogging and Shared content
• Public Relations – Articles, Press Releases and White Papers
• Online Advertising – Ad Networks, Affiliates and Blogs

Don’t be put off it does sound like a lot and it is, but how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, and that is exactly what Toni and Mike are here to help you do. There is a great amount of supporting documentation and guides to help you along that will be supplied on a stick drive for you to work with later. Be informed with the ever changing landscape of the internet and online marketing. Be informed and proactive for what is next to come and make a difference to your success.

2014 will be the year that online marketers will have to consider a mountain of marketing tools to get your message across. It is times like this that you should consider the help from a marketing company to work with you to achieve goals. All of the technology we use is evolving at a great rate, development teams are steadily moving forward to make our world easier?? and we are faced with the limited attention span of our clients as our brains are bombarded with more and more information.

Studies from the USA have shown us that the average person sees 34 billion bits of information on a daily basis. 34 billion bits of information equates to reading two average novels a day. As a result of processing so much information, people are beginning to tune out and we are faced with trying to capture their attention for a moment.

What does this mean?

1/ In a highly visualised world the marketer needs to capture the attention with video, short, informative and entertaining is the key.

2/ Mobilized material is a must, every day we are seeing the use of mobile devices to surf the net.

3/ In the past we used analytic tools like Google analytics to assist us in the fine tuning of our online marketing. This year we will be looking towards the predictive tools. I will write more on these tools at another time.

These three general trends will be what you are going to experience in 2014. It doesn’t matter what type or how big a business you are at some stage you are going to be surrounded by these trends because they are being driven by the developers. If you find that it is getting too much for you or you cannot spend the time doing this type of work we are always available at Barking Toad to help you. Just Contact Us and we will hop on over.

article thanks to socialmediatoday.com

A review of social media marketing in 2013 has produced several “must have” trends for every 2014 marketing plan. As you round out your marketing budgets and put the finishing touches on your well planned strategies, here’s what you need to know in order to reach your customers more effectively in the New Year:

1. Thoroughly understand your audience and product or service. In 2009,the University of California published a report in which they concluded that the average person sees over 34 billion bits of information every day. 34 billion bits of information equates to reading approximately two books per day. As a result of processing so much information, people are beginning to tune out; their attention is becoming a rare commodity. What does this mean for you? It means you need to have an acute understanding of your audience and how your product or service relates to them. In a high “Pinterest-ized” social media world, you need a visual, shareable message that demands and holds limited attention within seconds.
2. Mobilized material is a must. People are leaving desktop technology behind and flocking to their smart phone and tablet devices. The Pew Internet & American Life Project published a research paper in which they determined over 90 percent of Americans own a mobile device, and 57 percent of them surf the Internet with those devices. Smart phones are quickly outnumbering other types of technology, ushering in what many are dubbing “the mobile revolution.” It is imperative that businesses take their digital properties beyond mere mobile optimization in 2014. Digital properties need to be responsive and adaptive, able to fluidly change and respond to the viewing capabilities of any mobile device. Audiences are also expecting the delivery of real time information based on relevance and location, which means digital properties must be search engine optimized for local search parameters. Audiences are expecting one-to-one personalization, and mobile technology is handing business owners the ability to give it.
3. Out with analytic and in with predictive tools. Thus far, we have grown accustomed to simple analytic tools, the ones that give us basic information. Today, we are rapidly moving into the era of predictive tools. Predictive means that today’s tools use diverse techniques from data mining, machine learning, modeling and statistics to drive the analysis of current and historical information, thereby making predictions. It’s currently too early to tell exactly how this trend will evolve in 2014, but one thing is certain: simple tools no longer excite. The world and its audience are looking for ways to use all of the diverse data at their fingertips, meaning predictive technologies will find new traction in 2014.

These three general trends for 2014 all focus on a simple concept: effectively understanding and reaching your audience wherever they will be found. We can expect 2014 to be the year of positive customer experience and exemplary customer service.

Rule number one in web design is never forget about your current clients. They are the ones paying your bills and they are the ones who can get you a lot more business. People who make websites always need their websites updated, and often want more than one website made.

Follow up on your clients occasionally. Send them a postcard on their birthday to wish them a happy birthday. Ask them how their business is doing. If you show genuine attention to your customers, and build meaningful relationships, they will be coming back for more work.

A great way to keep in touch with the clients is through email lists. Keep an email list of existing clients by using email marketing and set up auto-responders, let's say once per month, just to follow up with them.