subject: SEO - The Emperors New Clothes [print this page] SEO - The Emperors New Clothes SEO - The Emperors New Clothes
As a company we have over 650 small to medium sized business clients and have probably visited three times that number in the past few years and well over 95% of these companies believe the answer to their online needs is being at the top of the search engines and in particular Google.
Just like the fable "The Emperors New Clothes" someone has to burst the bubble because being on the first page of Google on its own is now where near enough. In this new frontier we call internet marketing, Search Engine Optimisation is probably the most hyped topic around and when I say New frontier it is worth remembering that most facets of internet marketing are still relatively new and in their infancy as an industry particularly when compared to other forms of offline marketing.
Just like the early days of the gold rush everyone is clambering to stake their claim by being on the first page of Google however like the gold rush ever more sophisticated ways of identifying the nuggets and getting them out of the ground are being discovered.
Clearly being on the first page of Google is essential, it is like the mouth of the nile all Search Traffic in the UK starts with Google (well at least 85% of it) and so a good SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) programme and or partner is crucial, SEO itself however is not enough for small business owners. As with all things in the world of SEO money talks, for many years the small business could compete with the big boys however now big phrases mean big budget. If you want to be at the top of Google for phrases like "New Car" or "Insurance" or "Mortgages" you either need a very smart employee who understands SEO and works on your site constantly or have a big budget and the time needed to allow an SEO company to deliver the results.
The great news is that these phrases would be useless for most small to medium sized businesses, big companies need big volume both in terms of traffic, leads and sales and typically have the infrastructure to handle the volume. Small to medium sized business owners need much smaller volume but much better quality when it comes to traffic and leads which means much less effort and cost to achieve the sales.
An integrated approach to Search Engine Marketing is crucial for the small business owner and involves the following disciplines:
Targeted Keyword Selection - Selecting the best medium and long tail phrases available giving good search volumes, high quality traffic and high margin sales.
Description Analysis - Maximising results from bespoke descriptions on Google results page.
Phrase to Page Marketing - Optimising specific pages for specific phrases ensuring searchers reach the information they are looking for immediately.
Attention Grabbing - The first page a customer see's when they visit your web site is vitally important, does it grab their attention? does it sell to them? does it give them clear instructions as to what they should do next? or is it a dull page of content designed to fill a page or even worse just there to help you get up the search engines? Treat every page within your web site like it is your home page.
Web Site Usability & Functionality - Is your web site easy to navigate does it give your visitors clear instructions? does it sell to your visitors? does it make it easy for them to buy or leave their details? does it give them multiple options or do you have one point of failure? does it give too much information and therefore visitors have no reason to leave their details?
Traffic Analysis - Analysing where visitors come from, which phrases, how long on site, bounce rates, entry points, pages visited, exit points are all essential to ensuring maximum value from your visitors.
Traffic Profiling - Traffic profiling helps you understand the types of visitors you get, where they are in the buying process and how to get the most out of them.
Confidence Building - As your visitor navigates the web site are you building confidence in your company, service, product or self to ensure they either purchase or at the very least leave their details.
Sales Channeling - If you have an ecommerce web site with shopping cart are you channeling them towards purchase at every opportunity and are you holding their hand through the process?
Data Capture - For most businesses the web site has been built to generate leads and sales opportunities however over 90% of web sites have terrible data capture with a small contact us button tucked away at the top or bottom of their web site. Quality data capture is essential to any small business and should be bold with multiple data capture points and multiple reasons for a visitor to leave their details.
Lead Profiling - Visitors to your web site can be many and at various points on the buying cycle. It has been long proven that it takes on average 5 contacts before a lead becomes a sale or an opportunity becomes a quality lead / appointment and so knowing where a visitor is in this process means they can be dealt with efficiently and those closest to the buying decision focused on by the sales force.
Lead Management - Once a visitor leaves their details and becomes a lead what do you have in place to manage them efficiently, can you separate the buyers of today from the buyers of the future? Can you handle the buyers of the future? it takes five contacts can you manage, diarise and deliver information during a five contact process?
Lead Marketing - Do you have the software or processes to market and re-market to leads prior to and post purchase?
Integrated Search Engine Marketing means maximum leads, maximum sales, maximum profit from minimum spend and is the only way small business owners can now compete effectively on Google. Most SEO companies stop at getting their clients web site onto the search engines (Google if they are lucky) but have no understanding or capability of delivering a full Integrated Search Engine Marketing programme and even fewer companies have specialist small business knowledge and can deliver this kind of programme on a budget. As always America leads the way in this discipline with a few specialist companies in the UK.
