Having an online presence has become increasingly important over the recent years, and is even backed by Government schemes such as Getting British Business Online.
Online retail is expected to handle over £37bn worth of sales by the year 2014 and many retailers have seen the potential of their web presence. This online growth combined with many business schemes has seen a massive increase in small businesses getting their website online and ready for retail.
There are many ways to succeed in Internet Marketing, however many of the large websites will employ a technique called SEO.
SEO is commonly simplified as the process of making changes to a website to increase its search engine ranking. For example if you ran a Bristol based company selling Bathrooms, SEO would get your website to appear when people searched for terms such as 'Bathrooms in Bristol'. There are many different SEO agencies and professionals who can assist in your website marketing, so we have compiled some tips to make sure you pick the most suitable.
Market Research
One of the most important aspects of SEO is getting quality keyword analysis performed. These are the basis of any successful campaign, and will make the difference between increasing traffic by 1,000 visitors to increasing traffic by 10,000 visitors. Targeting incorrect or low traffic keywords will see very little results in terms of traffic to the website, which is why it is vital to carry out strict keyword research and analysis before commencing with the optimisation. Some SEO firms will take keywords from the customer as their target, this however is not the best way to ensure success as it is very likely the customer would not have carried out research on the keywords to determine the monthly traffic, competition etc. One case study highlighted that many keywords for small business SEO were either unreasonable or redundant. This can occur when you are optimising a relatively small website for broad terms such as 'dresses', or can be encountered when optimising for keywords that no one uses. It is likely that the webmaster will see much benefit if the SEO company has employed any of these methods. Keyword analysis is essential for any successful optimisation campaign, and keywords should always be agreed by both parties before the work commences.
Top 10 Guarantee!
We cringe when we hear that people are guaranteeing results and makes us a little bit suspicious at the same time. There are so many changes that occur on a regular basis that it is very hard to keep a guarantee. Do not mistake this for a poor service, or a lack of confidence in their service, but more a proper understanding of search engines and an honesty to make promises which cannot be upheld. There are many factors which can effect the search engine positioning for a website so you must always be weary when a firm will promise a positioning. Due to the dynamics of search engines, guaranteeing organic results is problematic, but there is more than one way to get to the front page. For example some companies will offer you a 1st page listing within 3 months. If after two months your site has still not received the boost they were expecting (very likely) then they can still get you a first page presence through a paid listing. This is not what you would have expected in the results but they have legally delivered on their promise. We recommend staying away from those who guarantee results as it is a sign that they do not fully understand search engines and their development.
Relevant Inbound Linking?
Your SEO campaign should always be made up of highly relevant links, which is why it is important to ask about this when searching for a suitable SEO consultant. When link building, relevancy is a very important factor as it displays quality amongst any competition. For example if your gardening website had links from Ryobi and Hayter, then you are likely to outperform a competitor that has links from overseas or unrelated websites. Many reputable SEO consultants will seek quality over quantity, as this is likely to achieve results quicker and retain them for the long-term. You can always ask your SEO consultant to provide a selection of target pages where your link may end up, if you find the page serves no useful purpose then search engines will be able to tell this too and deem it as a low quality link.
Exclusive To You?
As you can see, finding a good SEO consultant is not an easy task, therefore you do not want them offering similar services to your competitors. Many reputable SEO consultants will ensure they do not have conflicting campaigns running at the same time as they will eventually be competing with themselves. There was one tale which we heard from a customer saying that they had actually been pitched from a local Bristol optimisation firm. The conversation went well and things seemed fairly positive until they mentioned that they were currently doing the optimisation for their direct competitor. This seems to be a very unethical tactic employed as once they have recieved a fairly good ranking for the phrase, they have then tried to introduce competition by selling a matching service to the companies competitors. This is obviously very unethical, it seems that they paid the company to get a better ranking and once it was achieved they tried beating them by selling the service to a competitor. We always recommend asking if your SEO consultant is currently working with similar industries or similar keywords. If you are worried about competing companies and the same SEO company then you can discuss terms of exclusivity with them.
Using this guide should make finding that perfect SEO consultant a little bit easier, whether it be Bristol SEO Services or worldwide. There are many quality SEO consultants out there so do not be put off by the few cowboys. Make sure you do not jump in too quick with any SEO firms as some will often tie you in to fixed term contracts. You will also be able to find many specific consultants who specialise in aspects such as digital marketing or small business seo services.
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