Creating brand awareness online is South Africa's step up to equal the rest of the world in the competitive IT industry. This industry has been quietly brewing, overlooked by many, in the background of our number one seller - tourism. However, the IT industry has experienced a boom unlike any other the last few years, especially in the form of online promotion.
The Optimisation era has finally hit South Africa!
Although there still is only a small portion of online marketing companies that practice Search Engine Optimisation, each company offering these services in South Africa is a pioneer in itself. Online Promotion comprises of a few sub-areas including, but not limited to: Paid Search, Search Engine Optimisation and Affiliate marketing.
As Sally Falkow stated recently on Bizcommunity.com in her published article on 'Optimising Press releases'... "It's no longer a passive, one-way communication through the mass media. Your public is online and actively searching for what they want."
Briefly defined, Search Engine Optimisation is a form of online marketing where your website is made highly relevant for both Search Engines as well as searchers looking for your product or service online. Let me sketch an example: You are looking for a cell phone retailer in Cape Town. You type the name of your favourite Search Engine into your browser address bar (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Aardvark, AltaVista etc.). You type your query "cell phone retailer in Cape Town" and wait a few seconds for your results to display. Theoretically, the first 10 results displayed should be the most relevant to the query you entered. Statistically, 80% of all the traffic goes to the first three listings.
This practice in itself is the dawn of a new era for South Africans who, until a few years ago, found everything through the trusty dialling of 1-0-2-3! (A local telephonic information service.)
It is with pride that I can say that many global brands have turned to our handful of South African Search Marketing companies to help build their brands online.
Search Engine Optimisation specialists not only ensure that your site is visible on the Search Engines, they also ensure that these visitors to your website find a well-designed, content relevant and user-friendly site.
Consult with a Search Engine Marketing specialist and make sure that your brand, product and/ or service is found online.
I'm rather shocked that you think that the SEO era has hit South Africa.
Many South African webmasters have been practising this for years and have made some good money in the process (including myself).
It's funny how you publish things which are supposed to be logical and known to ALL in MARKETING. I mean who exactly are your audience? children? Posted on 1 Sep 2004 16:16
I disagree Daniel - how many companies in SA truly know what SEO is? I agree that it has been practiced for a few years now, but the general SA (online) market place has only recently become aware of the importance that it brings. At least 1/2 of online SA are still much unawares of the importance, and it is for this reason that all SEO's / companies should unite to create this awareness and benefit SA companies also. Posted on 2 Sep 2004 10:55
SEO has been around for years, but I need to look at it again. i know things have changed quite a lot in the past 5 years, so can anyone help me with the following?
1. Any good SA SE Optimisation Software? or any other that anyone can recommend? 2. Do the search engines still read meta tags? Posted on 2 Sep 2004 10:50
It depends what you want to do with it? There are a few software products to help with ranking reports etc. But I do not personally recommend using them for optimising your content.
Meta Data: Depends which search engine you are referring to. Most read title & description only. Posted on 2 Sep 2004 11:03
I found this article quite inspiring! It is good to know that even overseas clients turn to SA for all round development and optimisation solutions! Posted on 2 Sep 2004 11:29
Granted - there are people and companies out there in the online world that focus strictly on leaving 'spider food' all over their websites - and dont give a dime about the users....
IMHO the best practice SEO is, is SEO that is content and user focussed.
A site that is optimized and appears within TOP10 but delivers a poor user experience is on par with a site that is not optimised and does not appear in the SERP's. IMHO of course.
To me SEO is something that comes naturally within your copy, if your copy is relevant of course. I do not believe in keywords stuffing copy to attract the attention of search engines.
It sounds very much like you have been scarred by a bad SEO experience - which is a real shame, as it really is an Art form and can provide much "joy" to the site owner, SEO and public alike.
Perhaps my SEO is just different to what you have experienced, but then again - you may think that I am biased...as I work in the industry... Posted on 23 Sep 2004 16:26
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This Message Board accepts no liability of legal consequences that arise from the Message Boards (e.g. libel, slander, or other such crimes). All posted messages are the sole property of their respective authors. The maintainer does retain the right to remove any message posts for whatever reasons. People that post messages to this forum are not to libel/slander nor in any other way depict a company, entity, individual(s), or service in a false light; should they do so, the legal consequences are theirs alone. Bizcommunity.com will disclose authors' IP addresses to authorities if compelled to do so by a court of law.