SEO is an abbreviation of the words search engine optimization, to the none web gurus out there (or the less strange), it can be explained as telling your local travel agents where you are and what you offer, telling them what kind of customers you would like and then those agents giving a direct map to your digital shop window. Basically, in a nut shell, it helps you be found by the types of people who want to find the service you offer or the product/s they desire.
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Why do I need it?
Well from recent studies show that whilst eleven times more sites are found through search engines than any form of print advertisements. If you don’t have a search engine optimization strategy in place then you are a website in no mans land even if your website is the bee’s knees, with no marketing strategy your never going to be found, dwelling on a street corner in Antarctica with no people around is not going to help your business thrive & make conversions. Effectively with SEO you are screaming out to the world to come and find you, flashing lights and neon signs, New York Styley!
Did you consider your domain name well?
Has this come into your mind when selecting your domain – ‘I think if I use my name as my domain name it will make me look professional and classy!’ Your not wrong, you are not wrong at all, it is a great way to market yourself, I discovered, from Duncan Banatynes autobiography, that using your own name as your company name shows that you are determined to offer quality products as you are willing to put your name up for scrutiny against anything the company sells, produces or provides in customer service. Although this is true, in terms of SEO and being found by your customers it is not the greatest choice of name unless you are world famous and people are actively searching for you daily in their thousands on any of the major search engines. Try and include an important keyword in your domain, preferably at the start rather than the end too.
You mentioned keywords what is that?
A keyword is a word that people may use in a search engine to find your website, so if you type ‘building repairs liverpool’ into a well known search engine you will get websites that have used this as one of their chosen keywords for search engines ( usually this word will be used in the content too which I will talk about in the next blog post. )
What you need to consider when selecting a domain name : –
What are your services or products are you providing?
What keywords will people type in to find your service or product?
Is there a way of describing your products that may not be as obvious for example : – instead of building maintenance what about building repairs? Is there less competition for the opposing keywords?
Is the domain name easy to remember and not to long?
Would it be prone to being miss spelt by your potential customers?
Selecting the right domain name can provide you with an extra boost in the search engine keyword rankings if you select it well, so be careful and ask a professional for advice.
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Whats the benefit?
I know you probably have sent out plenty of leaflets, sent adverts to magazines & newspapers, maybe placed an advert on the radio but what about the potential customers who don’t listen to the radio, don’t read the adverts in magazines or newspapers and through flyer’s in the bin straight away? How do you reach those customers? SEO!! Someone could type in one or two words to one of the major engines and find you and the cost..minimal!
So if I add keywords to my website does this automatically put me on page 1 of search engines?
This is a concerning question that some people think will happen just because you are starting to implement a SEO plan. For a start your website will have competition in your market place for keywords, even if it is a relatively small market you are still going to have competition for those keywords. Imagine, 1,000,000 websites using the keyword ‘cupcake’ and your competitors have been using it for years; you come along and make it 1,00,001, do you think its going to make you achieve page 1 on search engines? I highly doubt it and the problem you have is that 95% of web users do not look past the first 20 listings so you will never be found with this keyword alone.
One way to achieve a high seo, is to look at the keywords in the long tail, this is the words people use less for a particular subject and allows you to have a a higher chance of being found as their is less competition ( I will talk about this in more detail in the next post ).
So is it just about keywords?
Nope, I am afraid its not that simple sherlock! There are many nuts and bolts to a good SEO plan and a really good plan will take time to implement. I will tell you more about some of the SEO methods to implement on your website on the next blog so make sure to come back shortly.
Next blog post – SEO – some of the elements and some basic practical advice.
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