What is SEO and why is it important for your online business?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation which is another way of saying how your website ranks compared to others in your field when your potential customers do a search for your product or service on the internet.
The name of the game is to have your website appear first
The name of the game is to have your website appear first in the list or at least “above the fold”, above the fold refers what shows up on their screen or mobile device WITHOUT HAVING TO SCROLL DOWN. It’s the prime real estate in the online world. There are many search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, Ask etc. however Google is by far the most popular and are continually improving how their search delivery works so that when someone searches for something online Google wants to provide the most relevant and useful response.
The good news is that Google is on your side
The good news is that Google is on your side and want you to be successful and provide some excellent tools that website owners can use to see how well their website is performing.
Maybe you don’t want to be pouring over analytical data
The problem for most business owners is they don’t want to be pouring over analytical data to see if their website is performing. You may not have even known to set up Google Analytics on your website so that you can see how it is tracking and where you might need to make some improvements. We will set this up straight away and if you want, educate you on how this tool works, but we think you’ll probably have better things to do. We’ll set up some initial targets on what to expect in the first 3 months, then we’ll test and measure to see what works and what can be improved upon and report it back to you.
OK so now you understand that it is important to have your website appear first, how do you go about making that happen?
The Golden Rules
The golden rules are:-
- Relevant keywords
- Engaging content
- Lots of unique traffic (from different sources and growing each month)
- Be an Authority site – other websites are linking to it as it has great content and speaks as an authority figure on the specific business niche
Relevant Keywords
When someone enters a search request online, Google wants to provide the most relevant and useful response. If your services are the most relevant to the person searching, Google needs to know it. So, it is very important to know and have fully researched what words or phrases your potential customers are typing into Google to have their problems or issues resolved.
There is a specific way that we can research what are the right keywords for your business, in your locality.
Customer behaviours change
Customer behaviours change over time so it’s important to keep up to date on how your potential customers are searching and what problems they want resolved. You can then link to them by including the search words and phrases appropriately into your website and then Google will show them your website first.
We spend time with you to do this research in depth, fully understand your business and what your potential customers’ behaviour is, and review what your competitors are doing in your market space. Then we work out a specific strategy to target these specific areas and solve these problems ensuring your website shares the benefits of your products or services to these potential customers, quickly and easily.
Engaging content
Aside from using relevant keywords, it is also important that potential customers spend time on your website and engage with your content – responses to blogs or possibly a survey or even contribute content to your website. All these items can be measured via Googles Analytically tools. You can see what pages visitors to the website are reviewing and how long they stay on a particular page. As your content grows you can start to see what visitors like the most and what they like the least so informed choices can be made on any changes that need to be made over time. The rule or guide is to provide your best content. Leave your visitors with something of more value that they had before they came to your site. We’ve all had those moments where you can’t put down a great book – well the same principle applies here. Ensure you have emotive photos or images and that the site has well written articles and is easy to get around.
It is important to set up SEO correctly on your website so that it can be found. If you haven’t done this then now is the time to complete the research and set up your website for success.
If your website does rank well and it can be seen on the first page of the search results then you will start to get more traffic to your website and if your website is set up correctly this can convert to more customers for your product or service. Remember your business website is an important asset of your business and could create a good return on investment – not be just another expense to be borne.
Most business owners are not willing to spend the time up front to design their website well so that their ideal customers find them and know what to do when they get there.
Lot’s of unique traffic
When you dig into the detailed information that you will be provided by your Google Analytics you will start to see where your traffic sources (visitors to your website ) are coming from? The metric you are looking to grow is the number of unique visitors (i.e. new visitors each month). Google tracks this information for you and shares with you the sources of your website traffic
[Insert Graph]
If you have run specific ads or campaigns to attract visitors to your website then you can notate this in your Google Analytics timeline and start to build up a track history of what type of campaigns work and when to use them etc. Google is very clever and can also provide a geographical break down of unique visitors so you can see what country/state/area you are getting the most traffic from. Most business owners want to attract a high number from developed countries such as USA, UK and Europe as these visitors typically have a higher spend capacity compared to developing countries.
Be an Authority Site
The founders of Google were academics so place a high value on websites or social media posts linking to your website. It refers to the process in academia where your paper on a specific topic is supported or endorsed by other academics, then your academic paper received higher credibility due to the level of support given by peers. There are online tools available to track how many and where from you have links or backlinks from other websites into your website. This can grow over time if you provide relevant and unique content that others are engaging with and sharing and cross referencing back to your website. Google gives higher rankings to websites that have more good quality links. For example Government websites are considered high authority websites and if a government website references your site you will have a much greater chance of ranking in that area of expertise.
Find all this digital stuff very confusing?
At SEODone4U we are here to help. Just like building a house, creating a website from scratch needs the right structure or foundation, letting customers know what products or services you offer, how you can help them and what action you want them to take next. It’s got to be easy for the customer to see within 2 – 4 seconds what your business is and how you can help them with their query. This means your website needs to capture your clients attention with strong and emotive images (photo or video), clear and concise core messages or core product offerings and a clear “call to action”.
There’s a lot of jargon there so let us break it down for you, the top 3 items you must have for your website to be successful are:
- Use the right images (remember human beings take in information in different ways via their senses so appeal to each type)
- Easy to navigate
- Have a clear instruction on what action you want customers to take eg.
- Call this number for a free quote
- Enter your email and phone number and we will contact you within 24 hours etc
- Shop here
SO if you want help with your website call us here: +61412825625