It is September and that means Spring is officially here! I'm happy to report that during August three members of the AlterSage team wrote the Google Analytics Conversion University exam and they all passed with flying colours. Christine, Jonathan and Nicola are now Google Analytics Authorised Consultants and Tara, who maintains AlterSage's paid search campaigns, is a Google Adwords Qualified Individual.

In this edition of AlterSage's newsletter we report back on the workshops we hosted, events we attended and articles that interested us.

What We're Up To

AAA School of Advertising recently hosted an eWorkshop as part of their curriculum for future art directors and copywriters to introduce them to the importance and use of elements of online media. AlterSage was represented by Christine and Jonathan who presented on 'Designing and Implementing an Online Marketing Strategy' and ' Writing for the World Wide Web' respectively.

On 26 August we attended Women's W(h)ine Night Out which took place at Cape Royale's premier grill room 1800°. Hosted by Mariska du Preez from Van Pepper Wines this ladies-only networking dinner is a must-attend event if you appreciate great food and good wine. We enjoyed the evening so much that we blogged about it. The next dinner is on 24 September, contact Mariska to book your seat.

The industry event Cape Town 27 Dinner took place at the Bombay Bicycle Club in Kloof Street, Gardens on the 27th of August. Speakers for the event included Alex van Tonder (from King James RSVP) and Marc and Dave Perel (founders of From the Couch). Attendees were treated to the new Marshmallow-flavoured Steri Stumpie, Glaceau Vitamin Water and the wine for the evening was sponsored by Stormhoek.

Out and About

Would you like to know more about Search Engine Marketing (SEM)? On 22 September we will share insights on the elements of a holistic SEM strategy. The two hour workshop will focus on the basic principles and applications of organic search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) advertising in order to increase qualified traffic to your website. For a detailed overview of the workshop or to book please email Carla. The investment per attendee is only R495 (excluding VAT) and includes workshop notes and parking close to the venue.

At the next PR Net event marketer and journalist Chris Moerdyk will talk about "Ten things PR folks must now about marketing - and don't." Register and join us at Chenin in De Waterkant, Cape Quarter on 29 September to hear which marketing lessons Chris thinks are important for PR professionals.

Client News

First Coast Technologies, a document management technology firm specialising in high-end imaging products and software, approached AlterSage Consultants on recommendation of Jo Duxbury from Freelancentral to create awareness for their software and complementary products in the online sphere. AlterSage has created, implemented and will manage both SEO (to grow traffic organically) and PPC (to drive immediate traffic and leads to the website) campaigns for First Coast Technologies.

Industry News

The importance of being authentic and engaging
Time and again you'll read or hear that the most important elements for online marketing success - are authenticity and engagement with your audience, particularly in the social media sphere. Social media is meant to be just that - social. Customers quickly see through thinly veiled marketing messages and spammy tweets. Read AlterSage's article on Freelancentral.co.za to see why we think it is imperative to be upfront, honest and involved.

Internet Marketing Tip of the Month

Did you know there are three meta tags used to describe the content of your website's pages to search engines? They are called the title tag, meta keywords tag and meta description tag. The title tag is displayed in search engine result pages at the link to your site, therefore it has to be short and succinct. The meta description is also displayed in search engine result pages and has to be optimised to attract visitors and should incorporate your web page's key-phrases.

Interesting Reading

In August Google announced they have been working on "next-generation architecture for Google's web search". According to the Google team this new development will improve the speed, size and comprehensiveness of Google search by focussing on the way the search engine indexes pages. Whilst testing the sandbox version of Google Caffeine it seems as if search results are being dominated by results from social media. Patricio Robles discusses Google Caffeine and whether or not the emphasis that is being placed on real-time indexing is good or bad.

Louise Jack looks at why brands that embrace the online space have stronger relationships with their customers than those who don't.

The Last Word

As mentioned in the special edition of our newsletter that went out last week we will be hosting more in-depth workshops focussing on various elements of online marketing for the remainder of 2009. In October we will focus on 'Social Media Marketing' and 'Putting Together an Online Marketing Strategy' and in November 'Design and Usability'.

We have been receiving great feedback from these workshops and have had numerous requests to host similar workshops in Johannesburg. This will most likely happen in the first quarter of 2010 and in the meantime, if you have a specific topic that you are interested in, please let us know. In addition to group sessions we host private workshops on request, either one-on-one or to teams.

See the possibilities,
Christine and the Sages