One of the most important questions you should ask yourself when considering digital marketing is: What do you want to get out of your website?
With an initial chat we can talk about what your website does, what you would like it to do, and the potential of your website when running an SEO campaign. Most clients simply want more enquiries and the phone to ring off the hook!
If this is the case, we can sit down and go through how your enquiry process currently works and if your site is conducive to achieving this. From this an audit report can be undertaken to highlight what may be holding back the success of your website. This is just the first step in helping to realise what your website can achieve.
When undertaking a campaign, I focus on getting a return on your investment without the need for a lengthy contract. There are many KPIs (key performance indicators) that can be measured, such as search rankings, visitor traffic and enquiries, but not all of them will necessarily improve your bottom line. My job is to pinpoint what matters and devise a strategy that aims to improve those aspects.
You may think being on the first page of Google for “holiday accommodation” is an ideal goal for a holiday letting company. But if that was achieved, you may be surprised when the outcome brings more visitors, but not much of an improvement to your enquiries. After all, around 75% of enquiries come from long-tail search terms.
Many aspects like this need to be considered for a campaign. Is the term relevant to the location of your business? Is it relevant to the type of product or service you provide? In a nutshell, does that particular term attract people who are likely to be interested in your company?
Since there are only 10 positions for a given term on the first page of Google, you’ll need an objective that works within your budget and delivers the right kind of customers to your virtual presence.
Generally, I recommend undertaking a campaign for at least 3 months to achieve noticeable improvements, with significant gains expected after 6 months.
What do I deliver?
Every month clients receive a detailed yet concise report about the work undertaken and the benefits gained from optimisation. Traffic gains are highlighted, alongside rankings and KPIs such as online enquiries and document downloads. Establishing KPIs are important since simply showing traffic changes is not necessarily a good indication of how well a site is performing.
Traffic changes can fluctuate based on external efforts like newspaper advertising and email campaigning. Traffic can also change based on seasonality.
For example, an ecommerce shop will naturally see more traffic during the Christmas period, while a holiday lettings site is likely to see an increase in the new year.
To avoid such fluctuations, I provide monthly and year-on-year traffic data over a 4 week period, so comparisons are like-for-like. Rarely do SEO reports show like-for-like comparisons as many are automated via third party software. Some reports are created on a quarterly basis to tie in with business projections, which can also produce misleading data.
Changes in Google’s algorithm causes fluctuations often, so I keep you up-to-date, and go through the steps needed to make sure you stay on top.
Regular analysis, reporting and website optimisation is just the beginning to gain visitors and search rankings. To build upon this, I can manage your PPC advertising, and produce more opportunities with PR outreach and content marketing.
For bigger budgets, these strategies can also be undertaken alongside social media management and “viral” campaigns such as infographic distribution.