Soul Arch Media & Marketing will be expanding our video production service to include the Sunshine Coast & the Sunshine Coast hinterland.  While we often travel further afield than this, this means that Sunshine Coast businesses will be able to access our services minus big travel surcharges.

First cab off the rankwas a real estate video tour for Glass House Mountains First National real estate and a large property they are marketing in beautiful Maleny. Here it is:

While getting to the top of Google alone does not ensure a property sale, it sure does help connect buyers who are searching online for real estate to find it. Case in point? This recent budget video for this small-but-charming two bedroom apartment centrally located in Tweed Heads. For those unfamiliar with the area, Tweed Heads a riverside/seaside town on the southern tip of the Gold Coast of Australia which thanks to year-round great weather and beautiful beaches is extremely popular with surfers, family holidays, domestic travellers, and retirees. While you would think that would ensure a well-priced investment property would be snapped up quick smart, a recent glut of brand new unit developments in the area has meant that the sellers of this unit were having trouble standing out from the pack.

One affordable video production later, and the video has just started showing up on Google in spectacular fashion. I did a quick search this morning and this is where I found it:

• Gold Coast 2brm property -Google #1
• Central Gold Coast unit - Google #1
• Modern Gold Coast unit- Google #1
• Tweed Heads 2brm unit - Google #1
• Tweed Heads Central investment unit - Google #1
• Southern Gold Coast investment unit -Google #1
• Gold Coast 2brm investment property -Google #1
• Southern Gold Coast 2brm unit - Google #1
• Gold Coast 2 brm unit -Google #2
• Tweed Coast investment property Google #4
• Tweed Heads investment unit - Google first page
• Tweed Heads investment property - Google second page
• modern Gold Coast investment property- Google first page
• Tweed Heads real estate video- Google first page

Given the countless thousands of investment properties for sale on the Gold Coast right now, this clearly shows video is a great way to get found by property hunters combing the web. It also demonstrates the power of video on Search Engine Optimisation - especially when you consider how much money some real estate companies and property developers are spending on SEO, only to get trumped on Google by one little real estate video tour!

Of course video alone cannot sell a property, but results like these show how much a tour can really help people searching for a property like theirs to find it.

Here at Soul Arch Media we have been really busy lately with lots of great holiday property and real estate videos, but the project of the month was for the latest RSL Art Union prize home released today.  Thanks to an online video commercial we filmed earlier this week, this prize home lottery raising money for the vetran community is now sure to attract loads of attention - especially from interstate and international ticket buyers who can now get an even better glipse of this fabulous home and prize purse. And at only AU$5 a ticket, who would not want to be in the running to win this luxury Gold Coast home? Not to mention the two Benz and gold bullion bonus! Check out this RSL Art Union Triple Treat lottery video and tell us what you think.

 

Well we here at Soul Arch Media have always loved getting involved in local community projects, but now Soul Arch Media & Marketing will be even more increasingly active in issues that affect the Southern Gold Coast. Soul Arch Media & Marketing Director Carolyn Ridings Emge has just taken on the role of Secretary at Creek to Creek Chamber of Commerce, and will now be in charge of marketing the Chamber events and activities.  So if you are in the Palm Beach, Elanora, Currumbin, Tallebudgera or Tugun areas get set to be hearing a lot more about the Creek to Creek Chamber in coming weeks!

Up for a bit of business networking and local community news? Come along to the next Creek to Creek breakfast meeting, 7 am until 8.30 am August 6th 2009 at the Currumbin RSL. Cant make it? Then nominate yourself for the 2009 Creek to Creek Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. Nominations close August 14,  visit www.creektocreekchamber.org.au for more details.

Around this time last year we wrote a blog post outlining several low to no budget ways to promote your small business.

Included in that list of tips was a short description of how to find online directories that will list your business for free, or at least for a very low monthly fee. I thought it was time to revisit this tip in more detail seeing as so many businesses are struggling to promote themselves in the current economic climate, yet also have trouble trying to visualise how they can harness online promotion to work for them on a truly local level.

Case in point? We run a business that offers Gold Coast video production and online marketing services. While a big chunk of our marketing clients are interstate, most of our video production work comes from within a tight geographic region that stretches from Brisbane to Byron Bay. It can cost clients a fair bit extra to pay for our travel expenses if they need our services outside this area, especially if they are based overseas, so naturally the majority of clients simply seek a service closer to home rather than pay a travel surcharge. This is understandable; unless they require specific skills, like surf videography, which our resident cameraman is a master at, they could probably find another videographer closer by (and therefore cheaper). So ranking #1 on Google for keywords like Video Production Australia would be harder and way less use to us than rating highly for a term like Video Production Gold Coast. Catch my drift?

Many businesses find themselves bound by geography on an even tighter scale. A doctor or hairdresser may find most of their clients from within the immediate suburb they are located in, while a convenience store, coffee shop or butcher may only draw clients from several blocks radius away. Can businesses working on such a limited geographic appeal still use online methods of promotion successfully? Certainly.

Several larger Australian online directories, like Truelocal, D Look and Yellow Pages, break down listings into specific regions and suburbs, and will give you a basic listing for free. Several, like Truelocal, also allow you to add promotional videos to really enhance your listing if you are paying for their upgraded services.

While many of the paid services these larger directories offer may result in more enquiries and clicks through to your website, we have personally found some of the best performing directories do not cost a cent. GoldCoastDirectory.com, which is the free local business directory section of the local area guide GoldCoastAustralia.com, actually pops up a lot higher than any of the paid Directories if you search for terms like Gold Coast video production services, so naturally receives a lot of traffic that are searching for local businesses like ours. In the past we have paid as much as $80 per month for Priority Listings on the larger sites that promised the world, yet none of them delivered any more enquiries or website click-throughs than our free listing on GoldCoastDirectory.com! So do not overlook these smaller local directories, as they can be a great free means of promotion. So how do you locate local directories like these?

1. Type into Google the suburb or region name you are targeting, then add keywords like Free Directory, Local Directory or Business Directory, eg Gold Coast Free Business Directory

2. Sort through results to find both larger directories that service your region along with local directories that purely focus on your area. All can be useful, so list your business anywhere appropriate and free.

3. Add your business details, website details, and all the areas you service alongside the products you offer in the text ( Eg. Byron Bay online video advertising) as this can help people find your listing when they are searching online.

Adding your business details to a bunch of sites may seem time consuming, but once it is done these directories often send plenty of customer enquiries your way for nix, so are well worth the effort.

Have you personally had great results from a local online business directory? If so let us know!