SEO Blog

Some people go into business online fully expecting to have to build slowly and develop their reputation, just as with offline industries. However, others expect instant results. They hear about the success stories of others, building their reputation on social media and getting straight to the top of Google with SEO. Understandably, they want a piece of the action.

The Internet isn’t a lawless society based on principles that are easily manipulated. It is largely governed by search engines and their algorithms. Social media is an exception; however, there are still standards that people expect to be observed. You can’t simply turn up and achieve success, you have to earn it.
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Whilst I obviously spend a great deal of my time telling clients about the benefits of SEO, it isn’t your only option when it comes to marketing your website online. SEO is still hugely important, but it certainly isn’t the only thing you need to address when looking to achieve online success.

Firstly, you need a product. If your business model is inept, your prices are higher than all competitors or you just don’t have an audience, nothing will help you. Regardless of your search engine ranking, you can’t sell chocolate teapots.

Your website also has to be user friendly. If you have a dated looking website that is difficult to navigate around it will be difficult to get conversions.
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When it comes to marketing a website there are plenty of options available to you. Some are more obvious than others whilst the effectiveness of each also varies. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you allocate plenty of your budget and time to it; website marketing isn’t quick and it can cost a fair amount of money to do properly.

Marketing a website is all about trying to increase visibility where it really counts. Whilst you want traffic filtering through your site, it is important that this is targeted. So whatever direction you want to push, always bear this in mind.

Effective online marketing requires a determination and focus like no other form. It is a continuous process that allows for immediate changes that can encourage quick results. If something is failing, you have to fix it. If something is working, you have to optimise it. You can’t just make a poster campaign, sit back and hope for customers to find you. The Internet is about engagement and bettering the efforts of your opponents.
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There’s a popular misconception that SEO is a magic ticket to success. Rightly or wrongly, website owners are prone to becoming quite irate when it doesn’t start attracting more visitors to the site or sales aren’t instantly doubled.

The issue with SEO is that it is only one aspect of your website’s marketing. Yes, it is extremely important in terms of improving your visibility in the search engines, but it can’t cure a website that simply can’t convert.
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It may seem like a bit of a strange marketing strategy. Mostly because SEO doesn’t actively go out and engage with the wider public, in fact much of what is done is entirely invisible; lying beneath the surface, but far from dormant.

However, when it comes to the Internet, things are a little different to the ‘real world’. You don’t just get seen on big billboards or people walking around with ‘Golf Sale’ sandwich boards; you have to go where people are looking, you have to go to the search engines.

It might sound tenuous, it might even sound a little ridiculous, but most websites get the vast majority of their traffic through the search engines. People use them to find everything. Whether it’s to solve a mathematical equation or to buy a calculator, the search engine has become the number one resource for information, products and services.

With so much potential traffic out there, it would be madness not to try and tap into it. But to start getting your share of this constant stream of people, you need to identify how you want people to find you (i.e. for what terms) and begin optimising your website for them.

Don’t become blinded by search engine optimisation though. Whilst it’s important that you are getting your website seen and read by the search engines, don’t forget about the human visitors. Copy can become cluttered by unnecessarily high volumes of keywords within the body and headlines, so don’t get carried away.

When done in moderation and in the correct fashion, SEO can make all the difference for any website. But like all marketing tools, the advertising is only as good as the product at the end of the day. A fully optimised site may well get to the top of Google, but that won’t guarantee success, particularly if the design, content and services don’t match the lofty position.

Search engine algorithms have been improved manifold over the years, so the chances of a ‘bad ‘ website topping the rankings is far more unlikely. However, SEO shouldn’t be viewed as an alternative to good, common sense business practices. It is marketing, plain and simple. It is there to get you seen and to ensure customers come through the door and view what you have to offer.

Even though it works in a very different way to most conventional marketing strategies, its effectiveness cannot be beaten. You may want to supplement it with a little PPC advertising, which also uses many of the fundamental principles as SEO, or even social media; but ultimately, search engines are the best source of continual, free traffic online.

The effectiveness is staggering and so can be the results; which is why website owners ignore SEO at their peril.

They might appear to be polar opposites; however, both the creation of site content and marketing take time and both are hugely important in attracting visitors. However, what marketing – whether through professional PR or social media – can’t do is maintain their attention.

It’s the eternal problem of the Internet. Lots of sites do it, but in order to market something effectively, you need something to market in the first place. Content, therefore, is still the most important part of the creation and development of a website. By creating original copy and an eye-catching design, your site already has the characteristics to ensure that visitors will have something engaging to meet them when they arrive on your pages.

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