Natural search engine optimisation (SEO)

Natural SEO or unsponsored links is very much connected with good web design practice. We cringe when we here so called SEO experts at networking events saying that they can rank prospects for certain search terms before they’ve even researched the keywords, the competition and looked at the website in question. Which SEO knows how difficult it would be to rank for any keyword off the top of their head without even doing any keyword research? This would be impossible.

Looking behond keyword and competitor research

SEO starts with good web design. So what does good web design comprise?

• Information Architecture – we use this phrase a lot, we usually give the analogy of a house architect. The plans at the beginning of web design. It bothers us that many web design obviously lacks a clear plan based on the short term and long term. We always design websites primarily for the user, there should never be any compromise whatsoever. The search engine spiders always come second. But the good news is that clear, logical Information Arhitecture also helps the search engine spiders navigate web pages too.
• Robustness and scalability – web design shouldn’t be too rigid. We notice that many websites have been designed using old technology. For the technically minded, this means tables for non-tabular data, frames, deprecated versions of html and a general lack of enough CSS. Not only does this mean that scalability using newer technologies is hindered for compatibility reasons, but the search engine spiders expect modern code which is usually cleaner. I suppose it’s almost like you or me reading a book in 18th century English for want of a better analogy.
• Too much Flash – rookie graphic designers are sometimes eager to impress. The best way to impress is with Flash. Flash animation can add to web design if it is used sensibly. But it can be a spider stopper. The best workaround is to alter the published code (if necessary) to be W3C compliant and make sure that the rest of your code and text is spider friendly. Flash banner on the homepage are definately poor, not only for the new users who have to wait for them to load, for repeat users who get tired of seeing them and search spiders who simply can’t see them.

Pay per click (PPC)

Pay per click (PPC). Is it worth it? The effectiveness of PPC is debatable. On the one hand you can clearly see how much each click as cost you. On the other hand you don’t always seem to get the best value for money. One thing is for sure with PPC, if you choose highly competitive terms then you’d better have a big budget. At Computer Coders Ltd we do offer to manage Adwords accounts but we don’t really consider this to be our bread and butter. This is more organic search marketing.

We refer to offer our customers organic SEO services over and above PPC for a number of reasons:
1) We believe that, long term, you will get great value for money from organic SEO.
2) It could be argued that good SEO breeds good web design. So should PPC but we see too many cases where those who offer PPC solely do not advise or consult about landing pages and general good web design practice. Afterall, the most successful organic SEO campaigns involve targeted traffic being driven to professionally designed, usable web pages.
3) Click fraud with PPC really bothers us. Some say that this is a necessary evil and all part of the process but it still bugs us.
4) Why does it need to be pay per CLICK? Why can’t the providers only charge us for actual leads? They could only charge if so many pages are visited and the clicker stays on the web pages for specified duration. Reasons why they don’t (besides the obvious) are the costs. Surely the cost per LEAD would be much higher per LEAD than per CLICK. Afterall, would your printing company only charge you for leaflets or flyers that you actually got business from? Would your networking event provider only charge you if you actually found someone to do business with during an event? This would get too difficult to keep track of and would probably open a whole new area of fraud in the opposite direction – from the consumer to the provider.

Internet Marketing Barnsley

Internet Marketing Barnsley – why do we need it. Well, if you’re in business you need Internet Marketing Barnsley because it is a cost effective form to reaching your prospects and generating those oh so important leads.

Your prospects are online searching for you

In the current UK recession, consumers and business decision makers are looking for value. Purchase are made much more warily. People use search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing to check out products and services before they purchase them. They read reviews and gather opinions before going for it. Long gone are the days when consumers go into a shop and buy items speculatively. People trust other buyer’s opinions. Honesty in enforced when people get together. Community. Online communities are now growing. Communities of people with niche interests are forming online and have been growing for some time. This trend looks set to continue with the advent of Social Media.

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing – what is it? Communities online such as Facebook, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Why is Social Media Marketing useful to your business? All businesses have their ups and downs and all business owners make mistakes every now and again. Afterall, humans run businesses and humans have flaws. If we make a mistake in business and our product or service we get bad PR. It is how we respond to this that differentiates us from a good business or a bad business. It is hw we sort out the problem. If a printing company sends 250 business cards which are cut incorrectly we expect to have another 250 cards hand delivered and money off our next purchase right? We expect to have the problem solved and a little extra to show that we truly are valued customers. Oh and, the quality control is tightened up for next time right?

Social Media highlights problems about our company

So consider the above scenario then think about the unhappy customers who don’t phone us to complain and just go elsewhere next time. We don’t find out about our quality control issue until it’s potentially too late and another 500 customers have received the same faulty business cards. I know, I know, our quality control should also be subject to quality control but this is just an example. But how do we find out about this problem? Google yourself. Check social media sites. If someone wants to complain these days they can reach a wide audience online for free.

Social Media helps you keep more customers

So continuing from the above scenario – what do we do next. Well, Dell famously started to reply to their unhappy customers and sort out what was wrong. They entered dialog, got to the route of the problems and provided resolutions, proactively. Rather than reactively.
That’s fantastic right? So how does your company start using this? Just sign up to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace. Also, have a blog created for your website. Your website will probably be updated less frequently than your blog. So direct your social media visitors to your blog rather than your homepage. That’s it in a nutshell but you’ll probably need an Internet Marketing expert who knows about Social Media Marketing to aid at some point to get the most out of it.

Social Media isn’t just for proactively dealing with problems

Social Media Marketing also allows you to develop a relationship with your prospects online. As I said early about people in a recession looking for value and trusting less. Well, people are more likely to trust their friends and colleagues. If I want to go to a new restaurant I ask for referrals. Word of mouth works very well online too. So how does this all work? Well, as you develop connections and followers using social media people get to know you. People tend not to trust the usually marketing spiel on websites. Then when you need to impart information about a new product or services, or an event that you are involved in then they get to know about it straight away. Whether it’s via RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Facebook or LinkedIn. Updates and messages can go directly to your email. Also, imagine being able to speak to decision makers who you wouldn’t normally be able to get to using telesales because of gatekeepers.