"Internet Keyword" scam

We have received several queries from our clients regarding a scam which is doing the rounds again. This one is relating to internet keywords, and the company that is sending you the email is trying to protect your internet branding/trademark by contacting you first to see if you want the china/asia based domains. The email goes something like this:

Dear Manager:

We are a Domain Name registration service company, which is a professional Internet Domain Name Registration and dispute resolution organization in China.On May,28th,2010, We received NENJIE Investment company's application that they are registering the name "yourcompanyname" as their Internet Trademark and "yourcompanyname.cn","yourcompanyname.com.cn" ,"yourcompanyname.asia"domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!

Looking forward to your reply.

Kind regards

Angela
-----------------------------------
Oversea marketing manager
Tel:+86(0)21 6296 2950
Fax:+86(0)21 6296 1557
web:www.ygnetwork.cn

Our research...
In China they have a system that works like the old RealNames system. You can buy keywords and users can access your site without entering a URL in the address bar. There's more info on the CNNIC site http://www.cnnic.cn.

An Internet trademark, is not a trademark at all - certainly not under US or UK law. It is the right, in China, to have your branding come up automatically in an address bar if someone types in your “Internet trademark”. These Asian scammers also refer to them as Internet keywords and internet brands.

For example, if you bought the Internet trademark “alinash” and someone typed alinash into the Explorer address bar in China, (not the search box), your site should automatically pop up, even without the http:// or www.

The trouble with this is, you are probably not aiming at a Chinese speaking marketplace and most importantly, if you type in Alinash into any Explorer browser in the World, wherever you are (possibly with the exception of China - never been there, never tried it), your site will automatically pop up anyway, as Explorer has already decided that you are the most established website that the keyterm, alinash would fit!

These types of emails are a scam because they are trying to sell you something which you would not have bought had you not received the email. The "scare tactics" are fraudulent, as more often than not the company "registering your trademark" are fictitious. Our advice is to avoid doing business with anyone who contacts you via this method. If you are interested in the domains they are trying to get you to buy, then ask us about them and we will help you obtain them if you are eligible to.

WebCoast

My Sunshine Coast offer - March 2010

This is our first newsletter for 2010 - where has the time gone? We are extremely busy at WebCoast, and hope your business is fortunate enough to be busy too. It seems that there are a lot of businesses which are very quiet at the moment, so we thought you might be interested in the following advertising opportunity....

The local online directory www.mysunshinecoast.com.au are currently running a "Double or Nothing" advertising campaign. We believe this is very good value, and is something you may like to consider for your business. The 'mysunshinecoast' website has very good rankings, and advertising your business (AND your web address) with them is not only good for your business, but good for your web rankings when visitors can click through to your website. You can read more about this special offer by visiting their webpage http://www.mysunshinecoast.com.au/specials/specials-display/double-or-nothing-march-2010-promotion,218 and you can read more on the advertising options here http://www.mysunshinecoast.com.au/business/advertise-your-business

Remember to visit the blog page of our own website www.webcoast.com.au for other tips & ideas of places you can register your website to generate more visitors.



With kind regards

Nicola Fleming & Jacqueline Morrison
WebCoast
www.webcoast.com.au

Google Maps

Many of our clients are enquiring about Google Maps. Here is a short clip regarding the benefits of Google Maps.


Google Map business listings are sourced from the yellow pages. If you are a new business you are likely to need to add your listing manually, or if you have changed address, or the current listings are incorrect, then you can claim the listing as your business and edit it to suit.

Increasing the exposure of your business
As your website provider our aim is to keep your site performing as well as it should… this means that the sites should remain up to date with their content, and rank well so that your business can be found on the internet.
With this in mind, there are several things that you can do. Start with listing your business in some online directories. Be aware that when you create a listing with some of them (especially the free ones) you will get a phone call from them trying to up-sell you to a paid listing, offering you their google ranking service etc etc. At this stage you don’t need any of that, you are just wanting the free listing! :


All Businesses:

1. List your business on the Open Directory http://www.dmoz.org/ . You need to select the page which best fits your business, and then select "suggest URL" from the top menu. The best results are if you list under REGIONAL-OCEANIC-AUSTRALIA-followed by your business category. Click REGIONAL on the home page to begin.
2. List your business on Google Maps http://www.google.com/local/add?hl=en-gb&gl=gb. Once it appears in Google maps you can include the map on your website – this gives the ability to zoom in & out, and print driving directions.
3. South Pacific Business http://www.southpacificbusiness.com/members.cfm
4. Ezilon Business Directory http://az.ezilon.com/aunz_url_submission.htm (requires payment)
5. List your business on any other free local directories - include as much information as you can, including keywords which people will search on when looking for your business.

Australian Businesses:

1. My Sunshine Coast www.mysunshinecoast.com.au (go to http://www.mysunshinecoast.com.au/promote.php#order).
2. Hotfrog business directory http://www.hotfrog.com.au/
3. BigRoo business directory http://www.bigroo.com/Add_a_Free_listing.4.0.html
4. Start Local business directory http://www.startlocal.com.au/cgi-bin/directory/user.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.startlocal.com.au%2Fcgi-bin%2Fdirectory%2Fadd.cgi&from=add
5. AussieWeb Local Search http://www.aussieweb.com.au/add-listing.aspx
6. Create a free listing with http://www.yourcity.com.au/join.php
7. Create a free listing with http://www.hitcity.com.au/hitlisting/category_location.jsp?freeListing=enabled (conditions apply).
8. Home and Garden trades & services http://www.homeandgarden.com.au/management1.cfm?method=1
9. • List your business on Yahoo Local Australia business directory http://au.local.yahoo.com/submit.html

New Zealand Businesses:

1. Finda http://www.finda.co.nz/account/business/add/step-one/4y1qnd/
2. Kompass http://www.kompass.co.nz/listing.php
3. New Zealand Websites http://www.newzealandwebsites.com/modules/directory/add.asp
4. New Zealand yellow pages (inclusion of website address incurs fees)http://www.yellowpagesgroup.co.nz/list_for_free.html
5. The New Zealand Small Business Directory http://www.nzsbdirectory.co.nz/NZSB_Add_Listing.html
6. Website Directory (requires link exchange) http://www.websitedirectory.co.nz/submit.php
7. New Zealand Directory http://www.nzdirectory.co.nz/add-website.html
8. For Auckland & greater region http://www.lenz.co.nz/Add_listing.asp
9. Biz-enz http://www.biz-enz.com/ubd/index.php To list your business - browse to the most appropriate category and click "list" on the top menu, and follow the guide.
10. Home based businesses: http://www.homebizbuzz.co.nz/directoryadd.php3
11. Hotfrog business directory http://www.hotfrog.co.nz/
12. Index New Zealand http://www.indexnz.com/
13. New Zealand Search http://www.nzsearch.com/
14. Gopher http://www.gopher.co.nz/Profile/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=ManageListing.aspx
15. No Cowboys (trades only) http://www.nocowboys.co.nz/register-now
16. Trade finder (trades only) http://www.tradefinder.co.nz/trade.asp paid listing

• Run a Google Adwords campaign to promote your business in Google search results. This is pay-per-click advertising. Visit https://adwords.google.com.au/select/Login for more information.

• Review the Analytics report sent to you by WebCoast via email, and see which pages of your website are the most popular. Consider updating these pages with more up to date content/photos. Look at your most popular keyword phrases that people are searching on, are there any other phrases that describe your business? Consider including other phrases or keywords in the text on your website – unless the text appears in your site, your website will not appear in search results for that phrase.

Marketing your website address
Also remember when advertising your business to include your website address in any advertisements, yellowpages ads, Weekender ads, newspaper ads, brochures, business cards and any other material which you distribute with your details on it.

Use your website to cut down your printing costs
If you have produced any brochures or marketing material, this can be included as a PDF download on your website. Customers who ring for a brochure can then download it from the website instead of waiting for the mail to arrive – saves you time & money!

Keep in mind that we are here to help. If any of the above sounds like a good idea but you don’t have the time to do it yourself, we are happy to help - just call or send an email. Until next time…. Work smarter, not harder.

Nicola & Jacqueline

SEO, templates and custom built sites

SEO basics for your website

Time and time again we are asked by prospective clients "How do I get my website to rank well?". The answer to that is long and complex, but here it is in a nutshell....

SEO. Little word with a lot of power!
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and basically means how well your site is optimised so that search engines like Google and Yahoo can trawl through it, adding your site's content to their database. There are many hundreds of things which contribute to a well optimised site. For example, labelling of images, use of header tags, use of keywords and keyword density within the page text and also in the page titles, layout of the page, use of css, number of inward links, use of flash & javascript etc. It is the combination of all of these things which contribute to a site that ranks well. Having said that, what is the combination? That is an ever-changing goal post, as Google changes its algorithims weekly - even daily!

Not all sites are created equal !
Why is it that some sites rank really well and others don't? The answer to that may lie in the build of the site. Some DIY templates do not allow access to important SEO areas. Or perhaps they do but the user doesn't realise the importance of using them correctly. In our opinion you are better off getting a purpose built site, one that is custom built for you, which matches your existing marketing material and has been specifically built around your keywords. And yes they cost more, but you may be surprised at how little that extra cost is - especially when weighed up with good search engine rankings. If you want a budget DIY template then you will probably get what you pay for... a nice looking site which doesn't rank particularly well, especially in competitive areas.

The competition is fierce!
The nature of your business will also affect how easy it is to get your site to rank well. If you are selling eg. copper garden ornaments you are likely to have less competition than say somebody selling TVs, or online dating services. This means that it will be easier to get your website to rank in the first page or couple of pages of search results.

What's all this about keywords?
Keywords are the words people will use to search for your product or service. Remember that is not just keywords, but keyword phrases that your site needs to be optimised for, and worse still, it is not just keyword phrases, but keyword density too! What does all this mean? You need to repeat your keywords and keyword phrases where ever you can throughout your site - this will increase the density and therefore make your site a more relevant match to those keyword searches. One good tip is to see what search phrases your top competitors are ranking well for and consider including these in your own site.

Where does WebCoast stand with SEO ?
SEO is a very specialised field. With the algorithms changing weekly & daily it is a full time job just keeping up. For this reason WebCoast applies recent SEO fundamentals to our sites but we do not profess to be SEO experts or offer any level of SEO other than the basics which we build into all of our customised sites. We can however engage the services of local colleagues who DO specialise in SEO and implement this advanced level of SEO while building your customised site. And the cost isn't huge, it can even be tailored to meet your budget.

That's it for now....
Nicola