Hi, kiwi!… the blog

Today we implemented a new feature on Hikiwi: QR codes. You can see that a little grey button appeared on the sharing toolbar, in the upper-right corner. If one will click on this button a small window with a QR code will be displayed on the screen. Thus, anyone can easily share an ad via the cell phone. But let’s see how these QR codes work and what they are.

QR codes ar similar with the much more used bar codes (which we can see on every product out there) but they are especially created to be used with mobile phones. A typical QR code looks like this:

This is all. Then you need a phone with a QR decoder (which are pretty common nowadays) in order to decode the message, save the information or navigate to the URL encoded in the image.

But you don’t need a very advanced phone in order to read and share the QR codes on Hikiwi. Iphones, Android-powered phones or the latest Nokia smartphones have built-in applications that can read such codes, but any Java phone with a built-in camera should be able to run one of the following readers:

• Kaywa reader
• BeeTagg
• Neoreader

And you don’t even need an internet-enabled phone in order to use the QR codes. Any code, once decoded, can be send as SMS or saved in the phone’s memory. Or you can take the picture and send it as a MMS message!

Below it’s an Youtube movie depicting the use of QR codes:

Enjoy!

Today we deleted two ads that were advertising mephedrone.

From what we know, mephedrone is not a legal substance in New Zealand so the person who posted these ads really risked a lot. It seems that the poster is based right here in New Zealand. We don’t think that he/she used a NZ proxy in order to post those ads.

Please note and remember that, according to Hikiwi Terms and Conditions of use,  any poster must obey the following rule:

• YOU EXPLICITLY AGREE THAT THE SITE OWNER CAN PROVIDE ALL THE NECESSARY AND AVAILABLE INFORMATION (SUCH AS IP ADDRESS) TO LOCAL OR INTERNATIONAL AUTHORITIES (…), INCLUDING POLICE OR LEGAL AUTHORITIES, IF YOU PUBLISH ADS THAT SEVERELY BROKE THE CURRENT TERMS, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: (…) ADS ADVERTISING DRUGS AND ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES TRAFFIC

It is of no use to risk your liberty for such pity advertisments. Many European countries have already explicitely banned mephedrine and other derivated substances and I think that the same ban is applied in Canada and USA, too. But you can always use Hikiwi to advertise your legitimate business, or your car, or your home, or your electronics and many more. Hikiwi is free and will always be free to use, for every Kiwi in the world.

We received this morning a complaint. A user states that one ad posted under Christchurch is misleading because it is posted by a company from Auckland.

Unfortunately we were unable to answer directly, because the reply-to email seemed wrong, so I will write here the answer:

“Hello …,

Thank you for your email.

First of all, according to the ‘Terms of Service’ the ad is the sole  responsibility of the owner.

On the other hand even if the business is physicaly located in Auckland, this still can be a legitimate ad. Maybe they provide mobile services or maybe they can receive via mailing the merchandise, repair it in the house and send it back.

However, if their service is illegal / anoying / simply not apropriate, they will be penalized by users. On Hikiwi, an ad can be automaticaly suspended when accumulates a certain quantity of “Report abuse” clicks (clicks must come from several IP’s). This ad hasn’t accumulated enough “report abuse” clicks in order to be automaticaly suspended.”

We cannot disclose the limit of clicks that an ad must gather in order to be automatically suspended, however if you feel that an ad is misleading, just click on the ‘Report abuse’ link.

We repeat here and live on our website the appeal launched on NZHerald.co.nz:

Salvation Army appeals for funds for Canterbury earthquake

To donate to The Salvation Army ‘Canterbury Earthquake Appeal’:

Freephone 0800 53 00 00

Donate online at salvationarmy.org.nz

The appeal is published in a pink header displayed over the regular Hikiwi’s pages. You can also donate to the New Zealand Red cross. Read more info and how to donate here: http://www.redcross.org.nz/cms_display.php

Preliminary Facts

According to Alexa.com, the most visited website in New Zealand is Google.co.nz, followed by Google.com (anyone can see the rankings here). The third is Facebook, and Trademe.co.nz, the well-known auctions website, comes in fourth position.

Statistics show also that Google’s market share in New Zealand is closed to 96%. One of the most trustfull sources revealing this high percentage is Statscounter.com, a very old free service that offers traffic analysis for websites worldwide. Being covered with a database of hundred of thousands of websites, Statscounter is very trusted. The statistics are shown below:

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Search Engine Market Share

So, what does it means this for the average business, freelancer or seller? It means that his average client – the average kiwi internet user - uses Google as a primary source of information. This is why the average kiwi business, freelancer or seller must find a way to grab his top position in Google.co.nz.

But how?

Google can be dominated in 2 ways: the “paid” way and the “organic” way. As anyone probably knows, the “paid” way reffers to paid search ads (Google Adwords). These ads are very effective and you can buy a word – almost any word – or a set of words, than show ads related to that word.

On the other hand, the “organic” way requires that you have your website/name/brand positioned in natural results for some desired keyword. This is difficult to attain for some words, but easy for other. For example, if you are a “dentist”, is very hard to be positioned in Google’s top 10 for this keyword: “dentist”, but it is much easier to be positioned after long-tail keywords, such as: “dentis in auckland”, “cheap dentist in auckland”, “good dentist in auckland” etc. This is where classified ads can help.

And the role of classified ads is…?

Traditionaly, free classified ads websites are very well indexed in Google. This means that Google picks up their pages and then shows this pages high in searches.

Let’s take a look at some sample searches:

• toyota for sale: only 2 out of 10 first page results shows a Toyota dealer (Brents Toyotas) or an unrelated page (Wikipedia). The other 8 websites are auto classifieds and auctions websites.
• house for rent in auckland: note the first results. They are from Realestate.co.nz, Sella.co.nz, Gumtree. Real estate brokers come after!

As anyone can see, auction and classifieds websites are very well seen by Google. That’s because they have a genuine, user generated content.

Now, regarding the ad’s writing, one must know that the most important part of any ad is the title, because the title is usually picked up and shown in searches. So, if you want to post an ad on several free classifieds websites, you should pay a particular attention to the title. If you want to be sure that Google indexes all your ads, you can vary the title:

• “Good Dentist in Orewa”
• “No Pain Dentist in Orewa”
• “Dentist in Orewa, -5% promotion”
• and so on

So, create an ad title for any website. Don’t bother to publish the same ad over and over, because Google is smart enough to index only one ad and neglect the others. But remember: if you write well your ads, you can grab in Google’s top 10, no matter the desired long-tail keyword, even 3-4 positions!

In short

The secret of online promotion through free classifieds is simple and easy to understand. A good ad is written not only for the website’s users, but for search engines, too. In most cases a good ad is indexed in search engines, such as Google, Yahoo or Bing, and the vast majority of the public will come and read the ad through the search engines. That’s why anyone must respect the minimal rules of posting a good ad:

• Publish your ad in the most popular free classified ads websites; you have more chances to be picked up by search engines!
• Publish a picture : an ad with pictures gets more views than an ad without pictures!
• The title / headline is one of the most important ad components – use a short, condensed, informative title – don’t forget that this title will be picked up by search engines!
• Write an informal ad and give complete information (location, price, commercial conditions etc.) Spell it right and avoid mistakes. Proof read your ad prior to publishing it!
• The most important secret: if you want to beat your competition, vary a little the ad’s title and content. If you publish the same ad over and over, Google will pick up only one ad and neglect the others. This is called “duplicate content penalty”. But if you vary a little the title and the content, you will have all your ads indexed and you can dominate the top 10 for a specific search.
• Be social! Publish your ad on Facebook, tweet about it! Ask your friends and family to spread the word. Don’t be shy!

Are you good enough to promote your business, skills or stuff with classified ad posting?