Put yourself on the map

Welcome to the May 2008 Intunet newsletter.

This month it's all about Google - love it or hate it, it's the market leader in search engines, and a lot more too! Read on to see how Google's tools can help your business and get the best from your web site. I know that many of you are already using some of them, but because they are free, why not take advantage of all of them?

Google Map Pin

When you search on Google for local goods or services, the top listings are often in the form of a Google map with pins on it. See how it works: search Google for "tiles Bournemouth". You should see the map listings, with our friends at House of Tiles in pride of place.

Now search for your own business name. If Google hasn't indexed your web site and business in the form of a pin (and assuming that you want people to come to you) you should get yourself a Google Pin.

Just go to Google Business Solutions and click on "Get Listed on Google Maps" in the top right hand corner. This will take you to the Google Local Business Centre. You will need to create a Google account if you don't already have one.

Follow the instructions, and put yourself on the map!

If you have any problems or questions, we're here to help. Just e-mail support@intunet.co.uk and we'll be happy to assist.

Who's visiting your site? And what do they look at most?

Wouldn't you like to know how people found your web site, what they looked at, how long they stayed, on what pages they entered and exited, and how they moved around when they were there?

One of the clearest ways to view visitor traffic and visitor behaviour is by using Google Analytics. You can read about it and see a demonstration by going to the UK Google Analytics home page. If you like the look of what you see and want to take advantage of it we will need to add some extra code to each page of your web site if you didn't sign up for the service when your site was created. We make a nominal charge of £50 plus vat for our time spent doing this.

Then all you do is make a note to look at the statistics from time to time and identify trends or patterns that could suggest valuable additions or amendments to your site - or we can do it for you on a regular basis and report back to you for a small fee.

Feedback Form

If you didn't have time to complete our feedback form last month, here's another chance. We value your opinions.

What we will be looking for

Amongst many other things, the search terms that people put into the search engines that brought them to your site. For example if you see that some people searched for "bathroom sandstone tiles" and found the House of Tiles because each one of the 3 words was written somewhere in the site, it might be worth adding a sentence in the site that grouped the 3 words together. This would help the site's ranking when people search using the same words in the future.

The buzz-word of the day for good web sites is "findability", and this is where Google Analytics can be invaluable. When we created your site, we (and you) could not know exactly how people would use it, and how it could be adapted in the light of visitor behaviour. Your web site is an organic marketing tool - it can be polished and shaped to meet the requirements of your visitors - Analytics can provide the clues. We can provide the polishing!

Jumping the Queue

Have you ever thought of experimenting with sponsored listings to raise the profile of your site? Google Adwords is a fascinating, easy, and above all controllable way of doing so. You can see a demonstration of how it works, and try it out for yourself without commitment at the Google Adwords home page.

If you like what you see but need some guidance or assistance about setting up and monitoring a campaign, please email or call us on 0800 180 4566 and we'll put a package together for you.

Intunet is accredited as a Google Adwords Professional

Happy Googling!