Using WhosOn To Turn Visitors Into Customers

The last few years has seen a considerable increase in the recognition of Search Engine Marketing as a key component of a businesses' online strategy. With so many books and articles focusing attention on this topic many have been lead to believe that if they can just perform the right search engine optimisations, tweak the website content to maximise its relevance, and identify and place bids on the most appropriate keywords, Google's hordes of users will drive sales through the roof and revenue will exceed expectations. What is too often forgotten however is that regardless of how engaging a website may be, and irrespective of how many clever 'call to action' links and buttons have been included, even the most dynamic website can still be disappointingly static when it comes to generating real leads. What’s more, it can be quite easy to try too hard to get prospects to "call now", and end up putting off those that you would most want to attract.

At Compelite we advise our clients not to think of the website as being an end in itself, but rather a component in your overall online marketing strategy. Therefore, there are often additional services that need to be employed in order to really get the full value out of your website. Search Engine Marketing is of course one of these, as the more people that are aware of your website, the wider that your sales net has been cast. But what happens when they have landed on your website? How can you increase the probability of converting a visit into a solid lead or a sale?

Compelite’s answer to this question is found in its WhosOn solution. WhosOn is an online application that integrates with your website and provides detailed information on where a visitor is connecting from, how often they have visited, and what they are looking at. While many website statistics reports can offer up the same type of information, WhosOn’s big advantage is that you are provided with this information in real-time while the visitor is still browsing your website, and are able to initiate an online chat with them to offer additional assistance and connect personally. This can often be the difference between just having a website visit or actually having a face to face meeting with a prospective (and hopefully eventual) client.

WhosOn features include:

* Live Visitor Statistics
* Historical Traffic Analysis
* Live Visitor Chat
* Real Time error and exception alerts
* Prospect Detection
* Who, Where When Reports
* Pay per click abuse
* Hacker Detection
* Log File Archiving

Read more about how Compelite’s WhosOn service can help you get the most out of your website.

If you would like to evaluate WhosOn to see how well it can work for you, Compelite offers a free 1 month no obligation trial.

Sign up for a free trial now.

For more information on the WhosOn service, please feel free to contact Mr. Michael Pieper at 2524 3303 or via email at info@compelite.net.

The Need For Search Engine Optimisation Standards

In recent times much has been said about the introduction of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) standards being established in the industry.

On the surface this sounds very viable, and offers advantages for both the clients and the service providers, which I will cover below:

Clients can be sure of the service they receive:

In Search Engine Optimisation today many clients are unsure of the level of service they receive. They do not know what SEO is exactly, and have doubts about it due to having heard negative things in the past about websites being banned from the search engines due to search engine spamming, and over the top prices being charged for a service with no guarantee.

With Search Engine Optimisation standards in place, clients will know exactly what level of service they should receive, what needs to be done on their website, and what the expectations are in terms of website visibility.

Providers can be sure of giving a service that is parallel to competitors:

Currently, SEO providers are constantly battling with competitors to get the best performance possible out of their client’s websites. This increases prices in the industry and also encourages “black-hat” SEO’s (those who try to SPAM their way to the top of search results) to become more devious and secretive in their tactics for wooing customers.

With Search Engine Optimisation standards in place, providers would be able to focus more of their efforts on improving their client’s websites, and less on questionable marketing tactics. This would keep costs down and regulate the industry.

But what about the search engines?

While it can be clearly seen why implementing Search Engine Optimisation standards would be beneficial for both the client and the provider, there is also the perspective of the search engine companies to consider.

Search Engines are still evolving their techniques of indexing pages on the World Wide Web (WWW). Therefore the automatic equations used to rank websites (algorithms) are constantly changing (in some cases on a weekly basis) to provide a better user experience when one types their keyword phrase into search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Live.

This introduces a major complication into the idea of establishing a SEO standard. Because search engines are always improving and changing their methods, so too must the SEO Firms, in order to give their clients a better service. Further more, search engines are notorious for keeping their website ranking algorithms as closely guarded secrets, requiring SEO professionals to discover the new ‘rules’ of the game through educated guesses and painstaking trial and error.

Looking at this issue from the client and service provider perspective it can easily be argued that search engines should in fact introduce standards, or specific guidelines on how websites should be built and maintained in order to rank highly in search engine rankings, and should also commit to updating the guidelines whenever a new algorithm change comes into existence.

However, since search engines are in competition with one another to provide users with the best results for search keywords, they have a very legitimate business case for keeping their methodology confidential. In addition to this, making the algorithms public could also have the undesired effect of allowing “black hat” SEO’s to become more adept at manipulating search results, boosting their rankings through spamming or tricking search engines into believing that their website is more important than it actually is.

Seen from this perspective, it seems very unlikely that any type of meaningful SEO standards can be established in the foreseeable future. Until standards emerge, a business’s best protection will come from choosing their SEO provider wisely.
Compelite has been providing professional SEO services to our clients for over 5 years, and would be happy to meet with you to discuss how our experience and expertise can achieve positive, predictable and measurable results for your website visibility. For more information, please contact our SEO Services Manager Michael Pieper at 2524 3303 or via email to info@compelite.net.

The Australian Association of Hong Kong

WWW.OZHONGKONG.COM

Compelite is pleased to have been working with the Australian Association of Hong Kong for a number of years, providing regular website maintenance and updates. When the time came to completely revamp and refresh the website to give it a more up to date appearance, Compelite was happy for the opportunity to expand its involvement with the Association.

The project’s aim was to provide a modern, clean, and engaging design, maximizing the use of space while at the same time providing an easy to follow, intuitive navigation allowing users to reach the important information with a minimum number of clicks.


As the Association organizes a considerable number of events each month, one of the objectives for the new website was to keep members up to date with the schedule of upcoming activities. This was addressed by creating an online Calendar which is visible on all main pages of the website, allowing visitors to see at a glance which dates in each month have activities scheduled. Mousing over a particular date displays the particular events occurring on that day, and each event can then be clicked to provide the detailed information. Members are then able to register for the event by downloading and filling in the Event Registration form.


The Australian Association is the publisher of KangaNews magazine, which is distributed each month to Australian expatriate homes, businesses and interest groups. In the future members will be able to log in to a special password protected section of the new website where they can download each issue in electronic format.


In addition to the enhancements for website users, the new website also includes features that make it easier for the Association to manage. Incorporating Compelite’s Content Management System, website administrators are able to quickly add and update site content by using a simple, easy to use, web browser based interface.

Are you considering revamping your existing website? Compelite would love to work with you to make your project a similar success. Please feel free to contact Pete Grella at 2524 3303 or via email at info@compelite.net to arrange a free consultation.

In-house vs Outsourcing for your IT Support?

As technology becomes more standardised, reliable and simpler to maintain, law firms should re-examine their IT support costs. It has been customary for many to have in-house technical staff for rapid response when needed, but now with low cost redundancy servers and advancements in hardware and software, the blue screen and network downtime are finally becoming a thing of the past (or at least should be if you have the right IT team). This means firms can realistically expect to outsource IT without worrying about being seriously inconvenienced should mishaps occur.

Studies show that there is an increasing trend to outsource, and law firms are leading the trend. So does outsourcing IT mean you are compromising? Far from it! Actually outsourcing allows law firms to concentrate on what they do best whilst your IT partners do what they do best. Below are some common areas where outsourcing your IT makes perfect sense.

Cost Savings
As you only pay for time used, outsourcing results in significant savings. Also, setting fixed costs for projects allows better budget control.

Better service quality
As IT is now handled on a client/service provider basis, service tends to be better than that provided by in-house staff.

Keeping up to date
Technology changes rapidly, and outsourcing providers will have greater appreciation of developments in other industries and be able to determine which emerging technologies can be beneficial to your firm.

Better Risk Management
Risks are reduced as the IT partner will have prior knowledge and experience on projects and only offer proven working solutions. Not only will they have far more real-world experience in many industries they will also be better at mitigating the risks involved in handling delicate tasks like upgrades and security management.

Hiring and Training services
For projects that must be handled in-house, top professional IT outsourcing companies can assist in hiring and training staff to ensure they have the appropriate skills. This training can be conducted on the job, with IT outsourcers providing secondment arrangements where their staff can work at your location.

Economies of scale
Most small firms simply can not afford to match the in-house support services that larger firms have, limiting what can be done, and when. A good outsourcing firm will have the resources to start immediately. Outsourcing also helps small firms act "big" by giving them the economies of scale, efficiency, and expertise that large firms enjoy. Sometimes far better solutions due to less internal bureaucracy...

Local outsourcing partner
When outsourcing is mentioned one often thinks of working with staff in developing countries like India. However effective outsourcing can be done locally so you have a familiar faces in the office, it's also good to know who you are working with. Choosing the right partner is the key to success. Never forget to consider the following questions:

• How good is the company's infrastructure?
• What is the quality of its workforce? How qualified and experienced are the employees you will be relying upon?
• How successful has the firm been in handling projects in the past?
• Who are they currently working with and for how long?
• How confidentially or discreetly will the company be able to carry on your work and what are their security policies?

Once you have satisfied yourself on these counts your firm can unhesitatingly go ahead, outsource and benefit from it...

Garry Smith is Managing Director of Compelite Limited, an IT services provider with a wealth of experience helping law firms in Asia implement cost effective outsourced IT solutions.

Featured Website - SquareFoot.com.hk

In our Featured Website section this month, we take a look at http://www.squarefoot.com.hk/. Launched in late 2007 but already a popular stop for those looking for middle to high end property, http://www.squarefoot.com.hk/ provides visitors with detailed listings of residential property for sale or rent in Hong Kong, Kowloon, New Territories and Outlying Islands.

As usability and clear presentation of information are critical to the success of a website of this nature, Compelite worked very closely with the client to develop a layout design which was practical, efficient and attractive. But there was also another perspective to consider. As the property agents who list their properties on the website are also important, their feedback and suggestions we taken into consideration as well.

Striking the appropriate balance between form and function, while satisfying the needs of the various stakeholders was an involved process, and the design went through many adjustments and refinements before final approval. All throughout Compelite’s design team worked in close concert with Square Foot’s management team to ensure that the end result was just right.

Of course, a property portal needs more than a great look and feel - it needs an array of applications designed to make the process of home hunting simple, efficient, and yes, even fun. Building on Compelite’s existing CMS system framework, several custom designed modules were created with both the end user and the administrative users in mind. These include:

Property Search Tools

• View the property and area details
• Contact the property agent directly from the website
• Search expansion feature gives users one-click function to find more properties with similar details, in the same building or from the same agent

Property Management Tools

• A specially modified Content Management System was created to make it easy for property agents to upload individual or bulk property listings, minimizing the administrative work involved in keeping their listings up to date.
• Reporting tools provide information to the agents detailing how many views their properties received, which were clicked on, and requests for more information/view appointment.
• Scheduled expiration of property listings, with one-click listing extension for properties which are still on the market.
• User management feature allows property company to add multiple representatives, and specify which properties each are responsible for.

Whether your need is for a basic ‘brochureware’ web page, a full scale portal with custom programmed applications like Square Foot, or for something in between, Compelite can provide solutions to match your needs and your budget. We’d love to discuss your requirements with you - please call us at 2524 3303 or send an email to info@compelite.net.

Yahoo Search Marketing Panama Upgrades

Yahoo is extending the reach of its Panama Pay Per Click System throughout Europe over the coming months. Up until now, it had only been launched in the US.

The promise to improve geographic targeting will bring much relief to those who use Yahoo's current system.

Panama also promises quicker approval time, allowing ads to be shown quicker. Previously, this took between 1 and 3 days, compared say to Google AdWords where you can have ads showing within 15 minutes of signing up for your account. Panama will now be in par with Google on this front.

Panama will use the feature of ad testing (much like Google's existing feature), whereby ads will be rotated evenly, and tested simultaneously for best performance. Those performing better will be shown more often.

A Visible Quality Index will be implemented (again much like Google's Quality Score) to ensure that advertisers who optimise their accounts and provide users with a quality experience (Google's term), will achieve a higher Quality Index. This will ensure that they achieve a higher ad position at a lower cost in comparison to their competitors.

The new system has been developed so that it can evolve with market trends easily. Hopefully, when Panama has been released worldwide, it will offer the ability to target multiple countries from one log in account. As it stands now, users must create separate accounts for the countries they wish to target. Not only is this frustrating, but also extremely time-consuming and costly as each account must be managed individually.

Find more information on the Yahoo! Europe Panama Upgrade here.

SEO or PPC or BOTH?

Many people assume that if they are appearing in the organic results (through Search Engine Optimisation - SEO) in search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN that there is no need to use the respective Pay Per Click (PPC) systems such as Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing or Microsoft adCenter.

This assumption is wrong.

Recent results carried out by Google show 3 major statistics:

• AdWords: 1000 impressions will recieve on average 10 clicks in top position
• Organic: 1000 impressions will recieve on average 20 clicks in top position
• BOTH: 1000 impressions will recieve on average 60 clicks in top position

These results show that you can double your traffic by being at the top of results in both PPC and organic listings.

What must also be taken into consideration is the syndication that takes place when PPC is deployed. When opted into the search network in Google AdWords for example, your ad will be syndicated across seven other search engines including Lycos, Netscape, Alexa, Ask, Hotbot, AOL and Go. Yahoo Search Marketing have a similar system spanning Altavista, Alltheweb, Yahoo and Dogpile.

Therefore, taking this into consideration, it is important to be at the top in both the organic results (through SEO) and the sponsored results (through PPC Management) to get the most traffic to your website.

What is more important is to have a fully optimised PPC account to get the best Return On Investment (ROI). Google has the most advanced PPC system and the widest reach on the internet, therefore Optimisation is a must. Unless you are making use of all the features available to you in your PPC account, you will lose money as you will be paying top price for the top position. With a fully optimised PPC account, you can increase your quality score, resulting in a higher position with a lower Cost Per Click (CPC). Our PPC techniques page shows all of the functions in Google AdWords that you should be using to get the best ROI. If you are not using these functions, then contact us for a quote on PPC Management to maximise you Return On Investment.