Online Marketing

Free SEO report

Would you like to see how your website is performing and find out areas you need to pay attention to in order to generate more sales and leads?

Our FREE seo report service will give you an in depth analysis of your website FREE of charge.

June 30, 2019 by Dave Mason

What is GDPR

GDRP (General Data Protection Regulation) is a regulation that comes into effect on 25th May 2018 and affects all businesses that deal with residents of the European Union.

This includes:

  • Businesses that have offices or locations in the EU
  • Businesses that sell products or services to locations in the EU
  • Businesses that sell products or services to residents of the EU that live outside the EU

?Any business found not sticking to the rules could be charged fines of up to €20 million or 4% of the company's global annual turnover, though the toughest fines will be reserved for the worst data breaches or data abuse.

 

May 17, 2018 by Dave Mason

Online marketing tips for 2017

The start of the year is always a great time to refocus your energies on your business and prepare to ramp things up for the year.

In this article we have taken what we have learned from 2016 and give you our tried and tested methods for getting traction with your online marketing to take your business to the next level without blowing your marketing budget (no matter how small it is)...

January 4, 2017 by Dave Mason

Ramp up your Christmas promotions with Mantis

Now is the time to ramp up your promotions for the Christmas rush!
 
At Mantis Technologies, we have worked with our clients for the past 16 years and each year we have seen ecommerce continue to grow stronger each year.
 
In this newsletter we have some exciting announcements that will help your online store get the edge over your competitors and give you a bigger slice of the Christmas ecommerce pie!

December 8, 2016 by Dave Mason

How to get more leads and sales on your website

One of the most common questions we get asked by new clients is how to get some traction on their website and get good rankings, traffic and sales.

In this months article, we explain some fundamentals that you should understand if you rely on your website to generate business for you...

August 31, 2016 by Dave Mason

Getting started with online marketing

As the new year kicks into gear, many of us are looking at ways to push our online marketing to the next level and get more of the lucrative online sales pie.

You may be a business just starting out online or you may have been online for a while now and are looking for ways to expand your marketing strategy.

Over the past few years we have been experimenting with a number of different marketing and conversion strategies to see what works best and gives the highest return on investment without taking up previous time to manage.

In this blog post I outline 4 highly effective strategies to diversify your online marketing, capture a larger audience and convert a higher percentage of them into new customers...

February 1, 2016 by Dave Mason

How to use Linked In

Linked In is the premier social media network for business professionals.

Many business owners understand the importance of Facebook but have not yet experimented with Linked In or understood how to best utilise it to generate new business.

In this article, we cover the basics of Linked In and how to get started with it.

February 19, 2015 by Dave Mason

Increase conversion rates with live chat

At Mantis Technologies, we are constantly looking for ways to increase conversion rates on our client's websites.

Recently we installed a live chat system on a number of high traffic websites in a variety of industries to analyse the results live chat would have on conversion rates.

Live chat is a feature that can be installed on any website to allow visitors to 'chat' with you via a chat window that pops up on your website. This allows you to engage your potential customers and assist them with any questions they have regarding your products and services.

July 30, 2014 by Dave Mason

5 tips for making your website more profitable in 2014

The start of a new year is traditionally the time people decide to either start their new business or make changes to their existing business. The downtime over the holiday season gives us the opportunity to recharge our batteries, take a step back to get perspective and get inspired to make the new year a successful and prosperous one.
At Mantis Technologies we are celebrating our 14th year in business. During this time we have seen the web go from infancy to a major part of the global economy. In preparation for 2014 we have put together our top 5 tips for making your website more profitable.

January 1, 2014 by Dave Mason

Retargeting - fine tuned online marketing

As online marketing is maturing as an industry, many new technologies are becoming available to get your product or service directly on front of your target market.  
First there were banner ads that showed up on websites randomly to everyone that visited. This 'shotgun' approach to marketing came from traditional media where adverts were shown to a mass audience with the hope a certain percentage would click through. 

May 1, 2013 by Dave Mason

Is it time to upgrade your website?

Is your website older than 2 years? If so, it may be time to upgrade!
Over the past few years, the way people use the internet has changed significantly with changes to screen sizes, more people accessing websites from tablets and smartphones and massive changes in the way Google ranks websites. By upgrading your website you can capture more of your target audience and significantly increase traffic and conversion rates.

January 25, 2013 by Dave Mason

Avoid dodgy backlinking and other black hat SEO techniques

For many business owners, SEO (search engine optimisation) can be a confusing and often misunderstood area of the business. Most people know that SEO is essential and can reap massive rewards for those businesses that get it right but most businesses also don't know how to do it or even where to start.

August 23, 2012 by Dave Mason

Online Marketing Checklist

The Christmas holidays are a time when many people decide to start a new business or think about how they are going to ramp up their business activity for the year. Whether your business is a bricks and mortar, online business or a mixture of both, this year should be the year to focus on your online marketing to jump ahead of your competitors and take a larger slice of your market for the coming year.

January 31, 2012 by Dave Mason

The year of the mobile device

In 2011, for the first time ever, mobile devices (such as Iphones and Ipads) outsold traditional desktop PC’s and laptops. It is estimated by 2015, more people will be connecting to the internet and websites using mobile devices than desktop and laptop computers.
According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, mobile ecommerce is projected to grow to more than $100 billion USD within the next couple of years.

The rise in popularity of mobile phones (mainly Iphones and Android phones) along with tablets (such as the Ipad) is having a dramatic effect on the retail market. Many shoppers are now either shopping online from their phone while on the couch or out and about. The more savvy shoppers are also using their mobile phones in traditional retail stores to see if they can get a better deal on a product they are looking at (or see what other options are available online that may not be available in the store).

January 31, 2012 by Dave Mason

Facebook Apps now available

We are pleased to announce the official launch of two Facebook apps which plug right into our ecommerce and real estate packages.

January 31, 2012 by Dave Mason

Is your website underperforming?

Do you have a website that has been operating for over a year and is starting to look and feel a bit 'stale'?

Like many areas of your business, a website left to grow old eventually becomes redundant, stale and behind the times which can result in lost business and opportunities.

Often businesses end up getting frustrated with their tired, old website and approach a new web design firm to develop a completely new website from scratch. Although this can give the required result, it can also create headaches as your new website may not have some of the custom features you had grown used to in your old website or even worse, the new website could be set up by a web developer that does not understand the importance of '301 redirects' which could result in you losing most or all of your Google rankings... essentially forcing your business to 'start again' with Google.

October 13, 2011 by Dave Mason

Has Facebook made websites redundant?

Currently Facebook seems like an unstoppable juggernaut. There is no doubt this highly successful social media service is here to stay as more and more people are registering and more businesses are setting up a Facebook presence every day. 

Last year, statistics came out showing that more people were visiting Facebook than Google on a daily basis and since then many businesses have (rightly so) started realising the benefits of setting up a Facebook page and engaging their customers within Facebook. This has raised the question in the business community of "has Facebook made websites redundant?". 

It is indeed tempting for small businesses to decide not to have a website or take their focus away from their website and instead invest all their time and effort into their Facebook presence. Businesses should remember however that they should diversify their marketing efforts rather than putting all their eggs in one basket. 

September 29, 2011 by Dave Mason

Don't Panic! Facebook changes are good!

Most of us who have visited Facebook in the past week have noticed some significant changes and new features.
We have been watching and have seen an initial public outcry over the changes but this seems to happen whenever Facebook launches changes on their unsuspecting user base. Following this there has been a lot of misinformation circulating causing more confusion.

September 26, 2011 by Dave Mason

Top 10 tips for businesses using Facebook

2011 has seen the highest number of Australian businesses set up a presence on Facebook compared to previous years. Many businesses are now seeing Facebook as yet another community they can market their products and services too.

However many businesses used to traditional 'push' marketing (such as TV, print media, etc.) are struggling to understand how Facebook can be used successfully for their business. Just as the 1990's saw businesses buy up computers because 'they knew they had to', businesses are now trying to set up Facebook pages because 'they know they have to'.

July 22, 2011 by Dave Mason

The world is obsessed with Facebook

Today we came across this fantastic presentation showing how much Facebook has been integrated into so many people's lives around the world.
Facebook is following a similar pattern that the web did in the 1990's and 2000 - 2010 where as more and more people got connected, businesses realised the true value of being online and started taking advantage of the technology available to break into new markets.

Online shopping is growing at a rapid pace and overtaking traditional 'bricks and mortar' shopping in a variety of industries. Facebook is the current 'new frontier' for businesses and we have seen many early adopters reap the benefits of putting the time and effort into fostering their own Facebook business presence.

February 28, 2011 by Dave Mason

How to set up a Facebook business page

Facebook is a free social networking site which was initially set up many years ago for college students to find out info about and communicate with fellow students. 
The site then expanded to the general public allowing people like you and I to find long lost friends and family and to allow us all to keep up to date with what each other is doing through the use of messages, photos and other forms of on-line communication. 

Facebook has really taken off over the past few years and we are now finding a very large demographic of generation X and Y consumers using Facebook at least once a day. 
In fact in 2009, Facebook officially took over from Google as the most used website in the world (meaning that more people are using Facebook on a daily basis than people using Google). 

January 24, 2011 by Dave Mason

Google Instant - how will it effect your website rankings?

When Google Instant was launched, many people in the SEO community expressed concern and worry.. some even declaring that SEO was dead!

However many leading SEO experts are now saying that Google Instant actually creates great opportunities for search engine optimisation. It allows you to easily target keywords by typing in search queries, finding related and popular keywords and then targeting these in your SEO campaign.

September 24, 2010 by Dave Mason

Social Media for Online Businesses

Many of you now would have heard of or even use social media services such as Facebook and Twitter.

Over the past few months we have been doing extensive research into just how effective these two popular services can be to on-line businesses (especially ecommerce) and how best to utilise them to increase your exposure and attract new customers.
In this article, we explain the basics of what Facebook and Twitter are and then run through some exciting possibilities for utilising these systems in your business.

May 31, 2009 by Dave Mason

5 Tips for promoting your website

So you just got your new website up and running. It's now been a day, a week or even a month and things seem to have not got off the ground. You search for your site in Google and can't find it, you barely (if at all) get any sales or leads and you start to wonder if having a website is all it's cracked up to be.

For many start up businesses and those new to running their own website, the most obvious and easy ways to promote your site are not always that obvious. Running a successful website is not as simple as paying a web designer to build and launch a site for you then sitting back and waiting.

Once you launch your website, that should only be seen as the start of the process of running a successful website. I have outlined below my top 5 tips for promoting your website and getting it kick started.

March 13, 2009 by Dave Mason

How to make your website work for you

We have noticed a recent trend in businesses winding back traditional advertising and even going as far as closing down traditional shop fronts in order to concentrate on running their businesses from their websites.

This makes sense as after all, a website is open and running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and allowing you to reach local, interstate and international clients. The costs of maintaining a website are minuscule compared to a traditional shop front or office in in these uncertain times, a well designed and promoted website can help you climb above your competition and compete in a much more efficient and cost effective way.

January 31, 2009 by Dave Mason

Watch your leads and sales explode with these 6 valuable website tips

Did you know that the majority of sites on the internet only have a 1% conversion rate?

At Mantis Technologies we have extensive experience in what makes websites work. After years of research, we have compiled the following list of ways that you can significantly increase your leads and sales.

April 30, 2008 by Dave Mason

What makes for a successful website?

Wouldn't you like to know the main ingredients for creating a successful website? What are the basics that make a website successful? A website that will stand out and be noticed by your visitors. One that will keep those visitors returning to your site, again and again. A successful website that generates high levels of sales and enquiries?

Including the following elements in your website development is essential to standing out from the crowd and turning those visitors into customers:

April 30, 2008 by Dave Mason

Harness social media to explode your website traffic

2006/07 saw the arrival of the social media revolution. If you have heard of Myspace, Facebook, blogs, RSS or YouTube then you have heard of some of the elements of social media.

Social media uses these and other technologies to allow online users to share information, photos, opinions and more with friends, communities and people with common interests.

By utilising social media technologies in your business, you can increase your exposure and generate plenty of new traffic from people interested in your products and services.

March 12, 2008 by Dave Mason