This week, Andrew Osborn joined Bloomtools as our latest Internet Consultant! Based in Adelaide, Andrew brings to Bloomtools wealth of experience and passion for marketing and business.

If you’re based in Adelaide, don’t be surprised if you recognise his name. Back in 1998 he won the prestige SANFL Magarey Medal, and can be found on the inside of a local brewery bottle cap to prove it! Yep, Andrew was a champion football star and a great team player, and he still is! The only difference in Andrew today is that instead of kicking goals on the football field he is tackling the challenges of SMBs in South Australia and helping them reach their goals!

If you’d like to speak to Andrew about getting a new online solution for your business, or you’d like a free evaluation of your current website, simply contact him today.

Google has released another update to its already powerful Analytics application. This time it aims to improve the analytics generated on your site speed, which is another way of saying how long it takes your website page to load.

In the past Google collected site speed and page loading times using random sampling. This random sampling was done on 10% of your visitors and on a page-by-page basis which means that a page visited by a visitor on a dial-up connection would show as having a longer load time than another page visited by someone on broadband.

Now, the new changes appear to analyse the load time of every page a visitor accesses within your website allowing for a more accurate analyses of your site speed. To get started with Google Analytics go to www.google.com/analytics or ask your local Bloomtools consultant for some advice.

A recent survey by MasterCard Worldwide has identified that the older generations of Australians are purchasing from onshore Internet retailers much more than the younger generations. The report shows that 50-64 year olds purchase from an Australian online retailer 71% of the time, whereas those between the ages of 18 and 24 only do so around 42% of the time.

The most prolific online shoppers, according to the survey, are those between 45-49, and 50-64 years of age. This indicates that not only are the baby boomers and older generations getting more active with online shopping, but they are doing it in a way that supports the local Australian retail industry. To read the full MasterCard press release, click here.

If your target market is in this older age bracket, and you have been considering selling some of your products online, then don’t hold back anymore as they are now very active online, and looking to buy from Australian providers.

Those of you with Shopping Carts might like to consider who your main customers are. Do they fit into the older age brackets of online shoppers? If so, what can you do to encourage them to buy more, more frequently and refer others? If not, what can you do to attract this very active online shopping community? Don’t forget, your Bloomtools consultant is always on hand for some sage advice about ecommerce.

Have you just found out that your Facebook Business Page has been switched to the new timeline format? Well, don’t worry, we’ve just published an article that will help you make sense of the changes and give you some advice for updating your page. Click here to view the article or, if you’re in need of some additional help, contact your Bloomtools consultant.

In the meantime, swing past the Bloomtools Facebook Page. If you ‘like’ us while you’re there we’ll keep you updated on our latest internet news, strategies, educational webinars and promotions!

Have you ever wondered how to get better results from your Google Search? Then click here to learn more about how Google uses its special features to help you have a better search experience.

Some of the tools require you to change the way you type in your query. For instance, if you want to search for all the synonyms of your search term as well, put the ~ sign immediately in front of your term. Or to get the definition of a word, type “Define” and then the word to produce a list of results that explain your search term.

I recommend this article for any regular Google user. Not only does it greatly improve your experience, but it reminds you just how fantastic Google really is.

Note: Google is so clever that the results it shows you in your search query includes your own personal history. So, be aware that if you want to see how your website is ranking in the searches you need to use an incognito window. (To learn how to do this for your browser, go here)