Christian iPhone App

I recently made a christian iPhone app for my wife's site, Daily Devotions.  I used a app making service online from appmakr.com.  I added Google Ads so I could better track impressions and use, and hopefully make a dollar or two to support the site.

Appmakr don't provide any reporting stats but the reports from both Feedburner and Google Adsense indicate between 700-1000 impressions a day and a reach (Feedburners term) of approximately 300-500 users per day.  Also we have seen a massive jump in listeners to the podcast.  The most recent sermon in the podcast section of the app has had over 500 downloads according to Feedburner.  This is a massive jump from the 10-25 downloads the files used to receive.

Later blogs I will provide statistics as I have today begun a SEO campaign to try and rank for the phrase Christian iPhone App, I will keep you posted.

Server Hosting

I have been thinking lately of changing my server arrangements.  I would be very interested in anyone opinions on the following suppliers: Web24 and WebCity

Its not that I am unhappy with my current arrangements in fact the prices are fantastic, but I think I need to experiment a little more with CPanel and the like so I can become more proficient in its use.

Maybe a reseller account where I can have multiple sites on the same account, any thoughts??

Online Video Production

Ranking for Online Video production is proving more difficult than I thought it would. I am not getting any traction at all.  In the Mill Park Beautician challenge the Digg that I submitted ranked very early and continues to rank quite well. The two Diggs I did for this challenge are not ranking in the top 200 for the phrase online video production.

Interestingly though the site and the optimised pages have now been indexed by Google they still dont rank at all.  It funny really because if this blog has any themes at all they would be "video" and "online".  Clearly Google though doesn't see this site as an authority on these matters at all.

One possible explanation of not ranking could be the confused linking structure I embarked on when I started this particular campaign and the "back-dating" of content as I wrote four articles all on the same day.  I will expand on this confused linking structure in a later post but hopefully the linking of this article will help boost this flagging experiment, trying to rank for Online Video Production.

Beautician Mill Park

Just a quick update on the ranking success of Mill Park Beautician, the dig link I submitted ranks 4 in google.com.au (pages from the web) and the root directory of this blog ranks 6 for Mill Park Beautician. In (pages from Australia) search the root directory of this blog ranks 5.

I expect that once the internal pages get indexed that this site will capture two positions and eventually the target page will rank well for Mill Park Beautician.

Mill Park Beautician

"Mill Park Beautician" is a phrase I suggested a local company Basane concentrate ranking for rather than their business name Basane.  This should be a relatively easy task considering the one article I wrote has hit number 6 in www.google.com.au today.  I also checked a few of the misspellings I suggested maybe important to Basane and found this site ranks top 3 for all of them; bassane, besane and bessane.

The rankings for Mill Park Beautician will probably bounce around a bit for the next few days and weeks but I am pretty sure that this site will continue to rank for the after it all settles down for the phrase Mill Park Beautician.

Mill Park Beautician

As discussed in the blog previously I felt that the company Basane would be far better targeting a phrase like Mill Park Beautician as part of their marketing strategy.

Mill Park Beautician is a phrase that people looking for their services may type into Google. This would be a phrase I would target not basane as they have.  Incidentally aftertargeting this phrase and ranking for it I would announce that on the front window of the business. This is telling your competitors that you are doing this and they could target it themselves or a smart arse, like myself, may do the same thing and rank for your phrase.

Today I ranked 6 & 7 for the phrase basane in Google .au search (pages from Australia) after the pages I wrote 10 days ago got indexed.  The front page with its mentions of Basane  had ranked as high as 8 and had recently settled at 10 and in fact it is this page not the internal one that ranks 6 today and the internal page at 7 today.  I would expect this to switch soon and perhaps the page I wrote targeting the misspelling "bassane" will also rank.  On that front, today I rank 1 & 2 for the misspelling.

Bassane

In this previous blog about Basane I noted that the company ranks for their business name and how they promote this on their front window.  I commented that they don't rank for the  misspelling Bassane.  This blog post is an attempt to do just that!!  We will have to wait and see if these few words are successful but in the meantime I would like to suggest a better way to use the search engines to promote your business.

A quick look at the website tells me that Basane is a Tanning and Beauty Salon.  Ranking for phrases such as "mill park tanning salon" or "mill park beautician" (which they dont rank in the top 20 for incidently) would be far more significant. Customers looking for this service would be presented with this company at the point of research.  Returning a result for Basane for one of these phrases would re-enforce the branding statement that is made by having your shop in a highly trafficked area of the suburb.

The most profitable real estate is actually the front page of Google.  This is the heart of an SEO campaign, ranking high for searched for phrases that will deliver traffic (and sales) through your website.

Basane

Basane is a company that operates in the area near my new house.  I moved into the Mill Parks Lakes Estate in Jan 2008 and have been exploring my local shops and businesses since.  Basane caught my eye early, not because I was looking for beauty services rather the advertisement that is splashed prominently on the front window.  It says "Google Us, Basane"

Now I thought this a bold use of prime window real estate considering you rely on ranking number 1 for the phrase "basane" (they do).  The strategy will fall flat should someone else rank high for "basane" or if a Google algorithm change causes them to drop out for the phrase.

Additionally this startegy requires the customer remember the correct spelling of the name "basane".  As I mention they rank number one for "basane" in .au and .com search.  They dont though rank for some mispellings such as "bassane" or "besane" or bessane".

Rule Number one when building and paying for an adwords campaign, ensure that your site works!!

I often like to look at the people paying to place their ads on my site.  I realise they havent specifically chosen me but I am aware that should someone click on their ad I do get paid a small amount of money.  I run Adsense on this site for that reason only.  The income is too small to be worth it but the Adwords response can be interesting.  I wrote a few blog posts about "video conversions melbourne" based watching my adsense campaign.

Today I saw a few ads for SEO related services as I have changed my menu strcuture and added the menu "SEO" prominently in the code.  Google have picked this up and have started serving more SEO related ads.This was the top of the site a few moments ago.



My eye was drawn to the ad for "afforadable seo" and I went to the website (No I didn't click on it).  Their URL is http://www.websitesearchengineoptimisation.com.au/ if you too would like to check it out.

Searching this phrase again today I have found that, rightly, Buzzbee Homes now ranks for the phrase "Buzzbee Homes". Number 3 in fact, one above my site.  Interestingly this only happened after I referenced them in my blog
"Buzzbee Homes - Why they can't be found in Google" with a link titled Buzzbee Homes.

I think this is more than coincidence. Google always preferences sites with the search phrase or keyword in the URL and of course Buzzbee Home website is at www.buzzbee.com.au.  Previous to my rants Buzzbee Homes didnt rank and it was probably that way since the site went live, after my rants there it is!