At the moment the federal government, through Austrade (www.austrade.gov.au) is having a big educational push on the importance of having a good website and on having it properly Optimised (getting good traffic through the search engines).

They feel that there are huge benefits to businesses who have a good website, and on their website they have broken these benefits down into eight areas:

• Make contact with potential overseas customers without leaving home
• Reach overseas customers in cost-effective ways
• Project the impression of a professional organisation of substance
• Convey that your business is ‘modern’ and uses new technology
• Avoid problems with time differences by having 24-hour contact
• Introduce and promote new products
• Demonstrate products using technical data, drawings
• Sell products direct to customers

But a website only has these benefits if it is being seen by your potential customers. Hence the importance of SEO. I am very excited that the government is taking this time to explain to businesses the importance of SEO.

As I said the government is doing an educational push on this at the moment and they are running free seminars all around Australia. Rory went to one of their sessions last week, representing a client, and he said that a vast portion of the day was spent talking about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

He said at the start of the day only he and the two presenters had much idea as to what SEO is, but by the end of the day it was better understood. Why would the government spend this money and run literally hundreds of sessions around Australia (not many in Tas, but more are scheduled for August)? Because a website can be a wonderful tool for your business, but only if your potential clients see it.

The sessions are particularly aimed at businesses wanting to export their products, and if that is you then I would encourage you to get along to their session in August. You can register at www.austrade.gov.au and it is free.

They will not do your SEO for you, but they will help you gain a better understanding of the growing world of on line marketing.