Looking for the best point of sale systems and hotel booking software?  MICROS Australia offers POS systems for restaurants, cafes and franchises. As well as Hotel reservation systems to increase conversion rates.

MICROS provide a number of software and systems solutions to restaurants, hotels and franchises. These solutions include point of sale software, hotel reservation software and online booking software.

Our solutions and software offer new ways to increase speed and quality of service for hotels, restaurants and franchises to encourage loyal customers who will continue to return.

From Hotel PMS, Reservation Systems and Restaurant Point of Sale Systems, MICROS tailors a solution that ensures your business operates at its maximum potential. Our professional staff can assist you with all your hospitality software from reservation and booking systems to restaurant point of sale and cash register hardware. Contact MICROS today for a confidential chat about your business requirements

SEO in Australia has certain nuances that only an agency with a local presence may be aware of. On face value it may seem cheaper to hire a company offshore or easier to continue using your overseas-based agency if you are launching into the Australian market but you may be missing out on valued keyword opportunities or ways to capture the local region – here are five differences that an SEO strategy should reflect.

Keyword selection – Australian slang, colloquialisms, idioms and nuances

Australians use different language and spellings to search for products and services that is unique to this country or even city. When deciding on your final keyword selection for the Australian market, an SEO company must be mindful of Australian slang, colloquialisms, idioms and nuances. This is why it is beneficial to hire a company that is native to this region and has a deeper understanding of the specifics of the language.

Copywriting – Australian culture

When optimising landing pages for ecommerce sites in particular, it is advantageous for an SEO consultancy firm to be aware of special events and public holidays of cultural importance and distinct to Australia. These include Australia Day, Melbourne Cup, ANZAC Day, the Queen’s Birthday and Labour Day. You can create landing pages for special promotions and deals targeting these events – this is particularly relevant to the tourism industry.

Link building – Australian websites

When focusing on SEO in Australia, it is important to choose a link building company that has established strong relationships with web developers of business directories, industry associations, chambers of commerce and relevant governmental resources. An SEO agency based in Australia may have a better understanding of what websites have high authority, what strategies will work in this market and how to best approach web developers.

Domain strategy – Australian Business Numbers

Unlike other countries, Australia is quite unique in that you are only allowed to apply for a top level domain (TLD) ie ‘com.au’ if you have an Australian Business Number (ABN). In regards to SEO in Australia, it is more desirable for local search to have a domain name that ends in ‘com.au’ – this helps Search Engines recognise your website is targeting the Australian market and then rank it appropriately for local search.

Server – Australian location

Local hosting is also important and an Australian SEO company would be able to recommend the best hosting companies. Matt Cutts, the Head of Web Spam says that previously their Search Engine algorithms would only look at the TLD to determine where the website is based. However, now the IP address is also important to see where the website is hosted to determine rankings and return the most relevant local results.

If you are launching a new website or working for a global enterprise and entering the Australian market for the first time, it’s hard to know the best SEO company to choose. Why not contact SEO Works, look at our profile client list, learn more about the customised SEO Packages and SEO Services we offer and speak to one of our consultants who specialise in SEO in Australia.

Search plus Your World launched by Search Engine giant Google started its rollout last week. Starting with Social Search, Google has been very transparent in its goal to personalise search. The update aims to customise your search experience and make it richer by returning a set of results that is based on both privately shared content from friends and family and traditional content across the web in a single click.

“Search is pretty amazing at finding that one needle in a haystack of billions of web pages, images, videos, news and much more. But clearly, that isn’t enough. You should also be able to find your own stuff on the web, the people you know and things they’ve shared with you, as well as the people you don’t know but might want to… all from one search box.”

Amit Singhal, Google Fellow

Google+ members, and to a lesser extent others who are signed into Google will be able to search against both the broader web and their own Google+ circles. Search plus Your World is currently being rolled out across different regions firstly for those who are doing searches in English. You need to be signed into your Google account. When it is launched in your region, Google will alert you with a message above your search results (below):

Find out more in the official Google Plus Your World video:

According to Google, there are three new features of Search plus Your World:

1. Personal Results – this enables you to find information that has been shared by you and your circle of Google Plus friends, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
2. Profiles in Search – this allows you to immediately find people you are closely connected to or people you may be interested in following both in auto complete and results;
3. People and Pages – this assists you in finding Google+ pages and people’s profiles which may relate to a specific topic or area of interest, you can follow them with just a few clicks and build your community.

In a nutshell, Google search results are going to be automatically personalised more so than they were already fusing ‘normal’ or ‘traditional’ search results and signals drawn from your Google+ Circles that you or your friends have shared which will be clearly annotated. Google will also show photos shared on Picasa or Google+. If you have marked them private, they will only be visible to you and not everyone else on the web.

As you can see from the screen dump from an article from SearchEngineLand (below), Google has introduced a new category in bold called ‘personal results’. In this example there are 50 personal results and 419,000 other (traditional) results for this particular user and some of these will be included in the SERPS*. Google also gives you the choice to opt out of Search plus by toggling between the two screens (second arrow).

The exciting aspect for businesses is that as well as people seeing search results from their friends, family, business associates and other people in their circles, they will also be served results from Google+ pages of “prominent people” who Google considers to be experts on that search topic that you can easily follow. These are public profiles of people that you don’t necessarily follow or have in any circles.

In the past, Google has come under fire before for breaching privacy but has quickly reacted to complaints. Google has already addressed any concerns by saying they have set a high bar for security and that information found in these blended search results, including Google+ posts and private photos, is already secured by SSL encryption similar to the security found in your Gmail account or sites which require you to use a credit card.

But your community on Search plus Your World is only as strong as the connections you make and the way you interact with each other on Google+ – this will add to and enrich your search experience. So the more people you follow, the more you network and share content, the more you open up ‘your world’. To find out more about how Search plus Your World can enhance your business, contact us at SEO Works.

*Search Engine Result Pages

The start of the year is a great time to reflect on your past successes and also past failures and set 2012 SEO resolutions to follow. 2011 was an iconic year for SEO with the launch of Google Panda and Google Fresh on the back of the Google Caffeine update in late 2010 but what did it teach us? Here are five SEO lessons that you can learn from last year to structure your online marketing campaigns in 2012.

SEO resolution 1: Write quality content

Google Panda and Google Fresh, two algorithm updates introduced in 2011 inspired webmasters to raise the bar on quality content for their website. Identify your main keyword themes but focus on quality not quantity – less is more. The underlying premise of SEO is to provide value for readers – try and keep copywriting fresh and original, put a time stamp on published material and minimise duplicate content on your website.

SEO marketing tip: Put together a content schedule so that your website is not only continually refreshed with new material as well as doing a quick check for any outdated content, typos or grammatical mistakes.

SEO resolution 2: Concentrate on quality link building

If the Panda update has taught business owners, webmasters and SEO consultants anything, it is to concentrate on link building campaigns with quality websites that have high authority, are credible and trustworthy but are also highly relevant to the subject matter on your site. It may be time in 2012 to evaluate your link building strategies and source back links from on-topic sites that carry more weight with Search Engines.

SEO marketing tip: By adding quality and original content in newly created content opportunities on your site (such as a company blog, a news section and so forth), you can encourage websites to organically link to your website – work smarter not harder in 2012.

SEO resolution 3: Analyse your marketing campaigns

SEO strategies are not a set it and forget it campaign. With all the recent changes to Search Engine Optimisation, it is important to set a time to review your keyword research, the landing pages on your site, your website design, the link building profile and so forth. Ideally, you should conduct a SEO health check every six to twelve months to evaluate online marketing campaigns and see where you can make improvements.

SEO marketing tip: If your website has started losing traffic, it is not growing steadily or your conversation rate is slipping, you may need to consult an expert to do a professional SEO audit of your site – this is money well spent especially if your website is your main sales funnel.

SEO resolution 4: Read more

SEO is very dynamic – as well as the Panda and Google Fresh algorithm updates, Google also launched Google Plus Business Pages in 2012. Staying up to date with changes in search is a daunting task even for the most dedicated of SEO professionals. Make it easier by signing up to blog updates, adding yourself to relevant social media pages and participate in forums so you are aware of any recent and relevant changes and updates.

SEO marketing tip: Even if you have hired an SEO agency, it’s ideal that you at least have an understanding of the basic principles of SEO so you can maximise your internet marketing investment.

SEO resolution 5: Hire an SEO consultant

2012 may be the year that you decide to take the next step in growing your business and hiring a professional SEO company. There are many benefits to outsourcing internet marketing and employing a dedicated SEO consultant to optimise your website. Not only can they free up your valuable time and allow you to focus on your core business, they can also draw on a team of talent and pool of resources you may not have access to.

SEO marketing tip: You need to choose your online marketing agency wisely – a cheap SEO company may not always be your best option. Ask business associates and friends and family for referrals or consult industry organisations.

If you have been a bit lax about optimising your website, you think there is room for improvement or you are considering hiring an SEO company, speak to one of our consultants about the SEO packages and services we have available. Start 2012 on a fresh and new note and write down SEO resolutions or goals for your website that you can incorporate throughout the year – why not start today!

Here are the 10 Top SEO Companies in Australia* – as at January 2012

How do you judge which is the top SEO company in Australia? By their very own SEO results of course…

Check out the table below…as you can see it seems pretty clear that if you want at least twice as many keyword phrases on Page 1 and 2 or 3 times as many top 3 listings as your competitors, then SEO Works is the top SEO company for you…

Methodology

We started with the Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool and picked the top keyword phrases searched for over the preceding 90 days related to either “SEO” or “Search Engine Optimisation.

We then added in some key geographic locations around Australia (generally used by searchers to refine their searches across most market segments) for the terms “SEO” and “Search Engine Optimisation”…

…also in reverse order giving a total of 50 keyword phrases targeted by top SEO companies.

The next stage involved selecting every website that turned up in the first three pages of Google for these keyword phrases (there were 96 SEO-related websites that had at least one mention in the SERP’s). Then using independent SEO software – Advanced Web Ranking (AWR) by Caphyon – we recorded how many pages each top SEO company had appearing in:

• first place
• the top three listings
• the top five listings
• on page one
• within the first two pages
• within the first three pages

AWR then calculates an SEO Visibility Score by first assigning a number of points to each of the first 30 positions, as follows:

• Position 1 = 30 points
• Position 2 = 29 points
• Position 30 = 1 point
• Positions below 30 have 0 points.

A Visibility Score is then determined by the sum of the points given to an URL by each search engine.

The Visibility Percentage is then determined by the sum of Visibility Scores from all the search engines divided by the maximum number of points that the search engines can provide.

* This data was last updated on 15 January 2012. Search engine results can and do vary over time.

For in excess of thirty years The Flower Factory has been producing and making deliveries of exceptional flower arrangements and flower bouquets across Sydney, Australia wide and internationally through their long term relationship with Interflora.

And when money is a bit scarce and you want cheap flowers online, The Flower Factory has a terrific range of inexpensive flower arrangements below $60; choose from Tulip Bouquets, Anthurium Plants or even a cute Pail Of Variegated Gerberas, all reasonably priced and ready for same day flower delivery.

Browse the wonderful selection of Valentine’s Day Flowers from The Flower Factory and impress your Valentine next February. And don’t forget about your mother – spoil her with Mother’s Day Flowers in May.
So, when it is time to send flowers or you want to have flowers delivered and same day or next day delivery is required then contact the professional, skilled and thoughtful florists at The Flower Factory now. Pop in to one of their easy to find flower shops or order flowers online using their stylish but straightforward website.

SEO Works is proud to be the SEO Company to deliver SEO Services to The Flower Factory, assisting them to raise their online profile and contributing to their growth and development.

The Flower Factory

Head Office
25 Atchison Street
St Leonards NSW 2065
Ph: +61 2 9431 2000
W: www.florist.com.au

Looking for the best Kennebunkport hotels?  The Beach House Inn offers sweeping waterfront views over Kennebunk Beach and beyond, which is how this popular Kennebunkport accommodation got its name.

The lodge has been tastefully decorated in a classic country inn style paying respect to its New England heritage while offering all the modern conveniences you would expect from one of the best Kennebunkport inns. The hotel rooms are bathed in warm neutral cream colours and have been individually decorated with antiques, wrought iron beds and stylish touches such as plush terry robes and Molton Brown toiletries.

Whether you are visiting the New England region for business or pleasure, the delightful and whimsical Kennebunkport lodging is certain to give you the rest and relaxation you are seeking on your next holiday or business trip. Find out more about the Beach House Inn and the Kennebunkporthotel specials and deals and accommodation  packages available for couples, families, groups and solo travellers.

So if you are searching for the finest Kennebunkport lodging, Maine hotel packages or need some info on Kennebunkport Maine attractions…check out the great accommodation, spa treatments and great restaurants at The Beach house Inn.

We recently wrote about the launch of Google+ Pages for Business in the first part of our Google+ series. Google + Business Pages is part of the social media network originally launched in June 2011 by Google helping companies stay connected with customers, clients, suppliers and other people relevant to their business – find out how your company can become part of the Google Plus revolution.

How can I create my Google+ Business Page?

Google+ Business Pages were only released a couple of weeks ago and companies quickly jumped on the band wagon to secure popular brand names before they were taken by competitors. You must create a Gmail or Google account to sign up for Google+ — no invites required. Pages are created by individual account holders. Take a look at this SEOmoz Google+ guide produced by Mashable to see how you can customise your company page.

In addition, here are some examples of Google+ Pages for Businesses that you can look at and see how these companies are using their pages to interact and engage with their customers and fans:

• Pepsi
• Toyota
• H&M
• Macy’s
• The Muppets
• Dallas Cowboys
• Good Morning America
• Angry Birds

Should your company have a Google+ Business Page?

Of course! You should also have a Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin Account. The social networking pages are also integrated directly into Google Search through a feature called Direct Connect so whenever a user starts a search query with the “+” operator, it will start bringing up Google+ Business Pages as they type. Typing “+Pepsi” and the result will take you directly to the Pepsi branded page.

Find out more about Direct Connect with this video released by Mashable:

How can I promote my Google+ Business Page?

You can let people know that you have a Google + Business Page by adding the Google+ badge to your site or installing the Google+ icon. The Google+ badge helps you grow your audience on Google+ and show more recommendations in Google search by letting people add you to their circles and +1 your page, all without leaving your site. Google says that using the Google+ badge to connect your website to your Google+ page, you:

• make it easy for your audience to subscribe to your posts and endorse and share your site.
• get more personal recommendations around the web, by connecting +1’s for your website with +1’s on your Google+ Business Pages
• qualify for Google+ Direct Connect which lets people type +your_site_name on Google search and automatically start following your page.

Having integrated online marketing strategies is always important to extend the reach of your internet marketing campaigns and maximise your brand awareness. By displaying the Google +1 button on all of your online properties, display and banner advertising, email signatures, enewsletters and so forth, it will promote your Google+ Business Page, encourage people to add your page and increase your social Circles.

Using Google+ already? You can add SEO Works to your Circles. The Google+ project is ongoing as Google has plenty of enhancements planned and we will keep you informed about any new updates that impact your business and Social Marketing. To find out more about Google + (Plus) pages for Business, contact SEO Works and speak to one of our online marketing consultants.

Immediate Assistants provides value added services to the resources sector. Delivering professional services locally and across more than 30 countries worldwide,  that keeps your business running in emergency situations and with the health and safety of your staff in mind.

Immediate Assistants is governed by Clinical Governance Procedure that enables them to keep a license for medical and rescue services within Australia and abroad.

With a key focus on preserving life and protecting people as well as clients’ businesses, Immediate Assistants’ services provide a critical part of an organisation or events staffing requirements.

Immediate Assistants provides the following value added services:

• safety risk assessment
• emergency response teams
• offshore medical
• offshore paramedic
• and many more…

If your organisation is in the resources or industrial sectors, contact Immediate Assistants for mine rescue services and medical emergency response teams.

Google Plus is the Search Engine’s third or perhaps fourth attempt at social media and this time it seems they got the recipe right – perhaps someone in the development department had a strong cup of Java? Google Plus an ongoing project launched in June 2011 recently introduced Google Plus Pages for Business – find out why your company should become part of the Google Plus revolution in part one of our series of articles.

What are Google Plus Pages for Business?

“For businesses and brands, Google Plus pages help you connect with the customers and fans who love you. Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term. They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face. All you need to do is start sharing, and you’ll soon find the super fans and loyal customers that want to say hello.”

Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering

Find out more about Google+ Pages for Business in this informative video released by Google:

Google+ Pages for Business are designed to help businesses connect with customers and fans one-on-one in real-time. Companies can add clients, customers, suppliers, external stakeholders or anyone else important to their business to their social ‘Circles’. People are interested in different aspects of your business and by separating people into Circles; you will be able to share information that is more relevant and important to them.

For example some customers may be interested in new products and services and promotions while investors may be interested in breaking news and stock information. Google+ lets you easily share the right things with the right people. Similar to Facebook, you can +1 (like) a comment or post. You can only see posts in your Stream by people you have in your Circles although you can look at incoming public Streams too.

Once you have people added to your page you can use your Stream to post relevant content such as comments, videos or images or engage people in group or one-on-one discussions about your brand. You can choose to make your posts public so people can find them using search or you can use your Circles to customise your messages for specific groups so you can share what matters in a way that matters most to your business.

Hangouts are another aspect of Google Plus Pages and they are virtual rooms where you can video chat to all your different Circles. The feature allows you to set up one-click conversations with customers and colleagues alike. You can get face-time with your social networking groups and get feedback about products, help customers with their enquiries or liaise with colleagues and share documents all over high-quality video.

There is also a group messaging app (previously called Huddles) for people within your Circles of friends. Since it’s a messaging application, you can only access it by downloading the Google+ Android app on your Android phone or on your Apple iPhone. The group messaging experience allows for immediacy and lets everyone inside the Circle know what’s going on, right this second.

In part two of our series, find out how you can create a Google+ business page and integrate the social network page with your existing online strategies. Using Google+ already? You can add SEO Works to your Circles. To find out more about Google+ (Plus) pages for Business, contact SEO Works and speak to one of our online marketing consultants.