subject: Optimise Your Web Presence And Your Business [print this page] The word google has gradually morphed from being just the name of an enterprising company to a universal verb. Google is now something most people do when theyre researching just about anything. And its becoming the norm for customers before they make a decision to purchase.
What did customers do before the Internet and search engines? They wore out shoe leather, visited shop after shop, talked to people, read ads in newspapers and magazines, and watched them on television. The Internet has helped to transform these activities, giving a person the ability to search proactively by simply googling a few relevant words in a virtual world.
Times have changed, and marketing personnel and budgets have needed to change to meet new demands. A new industry has sprung up, with new experts, speaking a new language: the language of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Because its the Internet, and todays Gen Y imbibed it with their earliest bottles, theres a vague belief that anyone can do this stuff; that you can add it to the job description of the marketing manager who will delegate it to the graduate whos just joined the team; or the receptionist who can look after it in between phone calls and the courier delivery.
Expertise Required
David Judge, Director of Online Specialists, disagrees. He has seen business online presence move from an optional extra to an indispensible part of the business plan. He says: An add-on approach to Search Engine Optimisation simply wont deliver the results your business needs. While there might be a few repetitive and simple tasks that dont require a great deal of skill, most of the activities of Search Engine Optimisation have a high degree of difficulty, and require specific training, expertise and experience.
For example, your content creator needs to have an understanding of the search words potential customers will use, and needs to incorporate them correctly into the content. Search engines have developed a distaste for contrived content, so your content needs to be informative, accurate and compelling. It also needs to be refreshed regularly. Content creation and the building of external links probably require the highest level of expertise of any SEO function. Its critical and difficult to have a full understanding of the intricacies of searching, the correct linkages, and the implications for your own image of how you link. The experts know what works and why.
The Sums Add Up
For around the same cost (and often less) as the internal staff hours required to perform SEO functions, you can outsource to experts, whose job it is to stay up to the minute on requirements and best-practice strategies. This means you focus on your core business and assess your SEO Brisbane provider on the results of his service.
Its All About the Sale
Like any marketing function, SEO is not there simply to make you look good, or to increase the number of people nosing around. Driving people to your site simply to gather information or window-shop means youre inadvertently increasing someone elses sales, and thats not why youre in business.
The ultimate judge of your success in SEO and any kind of marketing, for that matter is your sales achievement. Remember, these days your website is probably more real than your physical presence because your potential customers can visit you any time, from anywhere. Thats exciting, but its also scary. Every customer who visits your website is a potential sale; every customer who bounces off your site is a sale lost.
Online Specialists SEO
Its this level of urgency that drove Online Specialists to develop their premium SEO packages. Their approach integrates every aspect of SEO into an holistic strategy. This means that Keyword, Social Media Linking and Viral Marketing strategies are all interlinked and optimised; content development supports social media and blogging and is directly targeted to the purchasing customer; titles are appropriate for keywords. Everything fits together, rather like a beautiful parquetry floor.
Online Specialists believe that the most powerful strategy for online success uses a combination of SEO and paid SEM (Search Engine Marketing, ie Google Ads). While SEM can give you immediate results as potential customers click on your ad, SEO is for the long haul. It is less expensive than the pay-per-click approach of SEM, and if you are committed, it can deliver you a steady stream of the right customers, the customers who will buy your product or service.
Keeping Tabs
While results are the ultimate arbiter of success, its critical that your SEO is accountable for their monthly fee. This means giving you a comprehensive set of reporting on a regular basis. Not only does this help you feel confident that the work is being done, but you can then work with your SEO to assess the results, match the reports to your sales figures, and determine what needs to be done differently. Online Specialists believe that SEO without comprehensive reporting is like paying the bill for your car repairs without having any idea of what the mechanic has done.
Online Specialists is an expert team of professionals with more than 30 years of experience in a wide variety of industries. They have developed a unique blend of the best online tools and strategies for businesses who understand the importance of having an online presence that works for their bottom line. Australian owned and based, Online Specialists know the intricacies of the Australian market because theyre part of it. Go to our site to learn more about the full range of SEO services, or call 1300 855 943 to speak with an expert consultant.
