It can be challenging to get to the top of the search results for generic terms, such as ‘website design’. However, by combining keywords with a locality, you are suddenly targeting a niche and only competing with businesses in the same locality, and therefore have a much greater chance of ranking highly in the search results.

Local search is becoming more important, as people search for services when they are visiting a new area, and where people used to use the yellow pages, now they use Google instead. And with the increasing popularity of mobile phones with internet access, people increasingly look up services and directions wherever they are.

Introducing Fig Creative Brands, a Maleny based marketing, branding and website business with a national and international target market.

Fig is a joint business venture of Jennifer Perri, Adrian Anderson and Nathan Arrowsmith, who have overlapping expertise in website development and business marketing, and all have been successful in business as individuals.

As a collective, Fig synergises the specialities of the individuals into a premium branding and marketing agency, with a focus on results – your results.

In addition to the three principals, Fig incorporates a network of specialist contractors, talented local professionals who round out our offering of professional services.

Our goal is ‘Growing Your Business’, and our success will be measured by your success. Check out www.figcreativebrands.com for more information, and feel free to say hello.

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast is part of the rapidly growing South East Queensland metropolis, stretching along the coast from Coolangatta in the south to Noosa in the north. The area is renowned for its natural beauty and lifestyle options, which makes it a great place to live and work.

Looking for a website design business on the Sunshine Coast may seem overwhelming at first, due to the proliferation website designers available. Here’s a couple of tips to take into consideration:

• Look at their website design portfolio, and contact the owners of those websites and ask if they are satisfied with the service and results they received.
• Can you find those websites easily using Google?
• Do the websites all look similar, or based on a similar template?

By just following these 3 tips, you can determine if you are likely to get good service and results, if your website will be search engine optimized, and whether your website will have a unique design.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a critical component of most websites, as just about everybody who uses the internet to search for something will use a search engine.

Search engines run software programs (called ‘bots’) that effectively download most of the websites on the internet. From there they will be classified by complex algorithms to determine what, if any, search results they will appear in.

Basic SEO simply involves making sure your website can be indexed effectively by the search bots. I often see websites built by professionals that offer nothing to the search bot, and sometimes even block its progress, ensuring no presence on the search engine results pages.

So the first step is to ensure your website is search engine friendly. After that, you can go further and target specific key words and key phrases in your website, and try to appear in the results pages for those. This is where SEO becomes and art and a science.