SEO & Online Marketing Consulting is back!

So after a little time away, tinkling on my own ecommerce shop, I’ve returned to provide online marketing consulting services to Digital Finery clients. I’ve seen such bad SEO provided to some of our clients over the years and have had to hold my tongue as I didn’t have the time to provide assistance. But no more tongue holding!

I’m back to steer your website into the right direction to get more organic traffic and make more sales. It’s not just SEO, think of it as more holistic online marketing. I’ll look at your traffic, your site, the technical aspects holding it back, your content, your email newsletter strategy, your competitors, your PR and probably point out some really obvious things that deep down you’ve known all along.

If you’re wondering what the heck your SEO company has done to your site, or simply want to make sure you’re not on track to receive a Google penalty I can do all that and more.

My consulting services are suited to small businesses where you can do most of the legwork and you need steering in the right direction. Online retail is my speciality! If you can’t do the legwork, we can always sort out a cost-effective solution for you.

You’ll get my 20 years of marketing experience, 11 years of online marketing and SEO, and five years as a manager/owner of an international online retail store.

I have a few spots left for regular consulting, but be quick. I’m only dedicating limited hours to consulting each week.

Contact us for more information.

Posted in News, SEO | Comments Off on SEO & Online Marketing Consulting is back!

Monthly Income Reports June 2013

All right, so we’re back again this month to check up on monthly earning reports from blog earnings. I recommend you check out Pat’s Smart Passive Income page and Pinch of Yum for their commentary.

Blog Gross Income for June 2013 Niche Up or Down from last month?
Smart Passive Income $61,101 Online Marketing Down
Empire Flippers $??? Online Marketing Can’t get pages to display
Leaving Work Behind $8,887 Online Marketing Up
Pinch of Yum $8,673 Cooking Up
Matthew Woodward $9,366 Online Marketing Up
Niche Pursuits $407 Online Marketing Down

Again, most of these people can thank BlueHost for the majority of their earnings. A lot of people think Amazon when they think affiliate earnings, but I think it’s really important to note the commission fees on Amazon are so low it takes a lot of sales to really make profit.

Having said that, I threw up an affiliate site a few years ago that was dedicated to one product which was unavailable online in Australia. With just three pages, a product name keyword domain and Amazon it made around $1300 in six months without me having to do anything. My investment was about $50 for domain/hosting and $20 for a couple of poorly written cheapo articles. So not a bad return on investment considering I didn’t have to do anything. Needless to say, all easy things must come to an end, I had a warning letter on the product name keyword so decided to take the site down…

BTW, if you are looking at these and thinking they are years ahead, you could always buy your way to a semi-passive income over at Flippa.com

Posted in Business, Monthly Income Reports | Comments Off on Monthly Income Reports June 2013

Monthly Income Reports May 2013

Every week we get hopefuls contacting us to build their new blog so they can make money online like these rockstars. We don’t build websites of this nature as it’s not financially viable for either party (go and sign up with BlueHost), but I’ve always wanted to tell people “do you know how much work is involved?” and “it will be like you are working blind for several months before you see any traction.”

I’m not trying to put you off, but provide realistic expectations of the work you have to do upfront (sometimes for years) before you can slack off and enjoy margaritas in the sun…

If you are thinking about making money online, these online monthly income reports are a great place to start. Honest breakdowns of how some of the biggest (and smallest) names in internet marketing make their income.

Have a look through their history so you can see how long it took them to get where they are.

I’ve decided out of personal interest, it will be fun to chart them over the next few months to see who is making improvements in their monthly income. And it will be a great resource to compare them to each other!

Blog Gross Income for May 2013 Niche Up or Down from last month?
Smart Passive Income $66,582 Online Marketing Up
Empire Flippers $78,704 Online Marketing Up
Leaving Work Behind $8,318 Online Marketing Up
Pinch of Yum $7,093 Cooking Up
Matthew Woodward $5,432 Online Marketing Down
Niche Pursuits $474.76 Online Marketing Up

It’s no surprise that the majority of these blogs make their bulk of their money from BlueHost. BlueHost’s free site builder means you can really have a wordpress blog and domain name set up in about four minutes, just by clicking some buttons. Even my mum could do it!

From a business perspective, it’s a good lesson to see those that make the most money have the most income funnel streams. A reminder to spread your risk and not put all of your eggs in one basket.

Posted in Business, Monthly Income Reports | Comments Off on Monthly Income Reports May 2013

Negative Keywords for AdWords Ecommerce Campaigns

If you’re running an AdWords campaign for an online store, there are generally a list of keywords that you don’t want your ads to appear for.

I was looking for a generic list on the net to compare with mine and couldn’t find one, so thought it was time one went out there to get you started.

Download it here Campaign negative keywords report

You might notice I’m a bit of a meanie, but I don’t want my ad money to pay for someone to find out the best way to charge one of my products, or instructions on how to use it. Some of you may disagree with the vs, versus etc or the videos, as people comparing products are at the beginning of the sales funnel and might be worth grabbing, but personally I find the conversion rate on these types of searches really low. I’ve had more success writing a blog post about product a vs product b. Get a lot more traffic and it’s all free!

Of course, this list is specific to my ecommerce business in that I don’t wholesale and I’m not a distributor so before you just copy and paste it into your negative keywords, make sure you delete those that don’t apply.

BTW I have a heap of discount codes for AdWords campaigns so if you want one send an email to sales@digitalfinery.com.au and I’ll email you a code – they are only for new campaigns.

Posted in E-Commerce, Keywords, PPC, Search | Tagged | Comments Off on Negative Keywords for AdWords Ecommerce Campaigns

Our client gives e-commerce advice to Practical Ecommerce

One of our longstanding clients, Butcherman, is interviewed by Practical Ecommerce about lessons learned in his ecommerce business.

Some good advice to start ups – don’t forget to visualise what you want your business and website to do in the future and share these thoughts with your web development company before they build your website.

Read the article here: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3518-Lessons-Learned-Wholesale-Butcher-Becomes-Prime-Retail

Posted in Business, E-Commerce | Comments Off on Our client gives e-commerce advice to Practical Ecommerce

Website Launch: Specs Addict

Get your fashion prescription glasses and sunglasses online anywhere in the world with Specs Addict! This high-fashion e-commerce site is built in OpenCart with several custom modifications.

You don’t even need a prescription to buy sunglasses, go shopping now at Specs Addict!

Posted in E-Commerce, New Sites, Web Design | Comments Off on Website Launch: Specs Addict

Award: Best Web Design Company

We are pleased to announce Digital Finery continues as one of the Top Ten Best Web Designers in Australia by TopSEOs.

We’re going to stop counting these now…

Posted in Awards, Web Design | Comments Off on Award: Best Web Design Company

Hottest 100: Seriously Girly Web Design

Web Design with a Girly Focus

Being a chick, this site just really appeals to my younger, girly side. Like in high school when I used to decorate my school books with magazine cuttings and Contact cover, this has the same sort of feel.

Butter London is a contender in the Hottest 100 Web Design through its pure girly web design and lingering memories. I’m sure it will appeal to women of all ages…

Posted in Hottest 100 Web Design, Web Design | Tagged | Comments Off on Hottest 100: Seriously Girly Web Design

Award: Best Web Design Company

Web DesignWe are pleased to announce Digital Finery has been voted again as one of the Top Ten Best Web Designers in Australia by TopSEOs.

This is the 36th month in a row Digital Finery is in the Top Ten for Web Design.

Posted in Awards, Business, Web Design | Tagged | Comments Off on Award: Best Web Design Company

Hottest 100: Fun in Web Design

Fun in Web Design

We haven’t posted a contender in the Hottest 100 Web Design for ages, and that’s not because of lack of hot sites, it’s more because we’ve been a bit busy.

We came across this site today called Captain Dash and it is really inspiring. This site tells a story all the way through with imagery and simple scenarios, but more importantly they make it look like fun! When was the last time you felt fun from a website (not including The Wiggles)???

Posted in Hottest 100 Web Design, Web Design | Comments Off on Hottest 100: Fun in Web Design