by admin on September 2, 2010
If you were getting an exam score back – maybe 7 out of 10 wouldn’t be so flash.
However, if your talking about the number of times links to your web site appear on the first page of google search results when people go looking for the product or service that you are offering – you’re in pretty good shape.
The field of property conveyancing in New Zealand is a relatively new thing. Up until only a few shorts years ago, the only option available to you if you were buying or selling a house was to have a lawyer or solicitor to handle the ins and outs of the legal process. However thanks to the efforts and tenacity of one man and a small band of supporters the law was changed in New Zealand and now private certified practitioners can handle all of the various required parts of the sale.
As with any changes in any market, the opening up of that market gives customers more options, the ability to personalise the service to greater extent and to innovate in the way those services are delivered.
When we were in engaged back in 2009 they had a simple website that had generated only a few leads in the past year.
We rebuilt the site from the ground up with the specific intention of being super search engine friendly.
That’s why today, thanks to following some simple rules around both onsite and offsite search optimisation and despite the fact this term has over 300,000 competing pages, they now hold 7 of the first 10 spots.
With Web SEO there has to be a strategy around site structure, nature of the content, amount of activity on the site, as well as a program to create and maintain links from other quality websites via different mediums.
We use video, press releases, web 2.0 properties, social bookmarking and social networking platforms to name just the main influences. It’s about diversification and it’s about relevance and providing value.
Web SEO in Action
by admin on August 25, 2010
When your website IS your business – traffic is the lifeblood of that business.
If your offline business has a website to promote it’s services or to generate sales leads, traffic is just as important.
And how do you get more traffic? By attracting more visitors.
What are those visitors doing when they sit down at their computers to find a product or service that your offering?
Often times they are starting with a search. Using a word or series of words generally, they try to define what they are looking for – it’s how they articulate their problem or define their area of interest.
“Weekend golfing holidays”, “natural cure for sore throat” “buy new chainsaw for home use” – there are literally billions of searches occurring everyday. And when you understand how most people go about looking for your product or service and even better still, understand which words and phrases they are most likely to use when they get close to a buying decision, your in a very strong position to then be able to attract them to your website. The interesting thing about this science is that a searchers queries and the terms they use to find what they need will indeed improve and get more precise and defined in time. An increase in sophistication over time can occur.
A great example is the difference of the search term “head aches” and “head ache” – the latter is usually dealing with a problem they have right now and wants a solution – right now. As opposed the plural of the word which is usually associated with researching the causes of headaches in general or perhaps a longer term continual problem.
By monitoring and then predicting the structure of your ideal customers search queries and building web pages and content that are considerate of those queries – you are more likely to be able to attract them to you.
Moreover, when you know what is the number search phrase that really is the essence of your business and you can then use web-seo or search engine optimisation techniques to ensure that you are ranked highly for that phrase, you are in a far stronger position than a competitor, either offline or online, that may not even be aware that that phrase exists.
When we consider that 90% of searchers never get past page one of Google search results – if your website is languishing on page two or three – you are at a very distinct disadvantage compared to the web site owner that possess any of the top three spots.
Having spent the past three years building websites for various different affiliate offers in a variety of different niches I’ve seen first hand the difference that position makes to traffic. This always translates to more sales (even when your sales copy stinks – which is a topic of another day) – pouring more traffic in can help.
When you get the combination of Traffic + Conversion = Profits working though – it’s a beautiful thing.
Major point of note – Google ranks web pages – not websites. So each page can count and if your smart, each page will be targeting a different facet of your business.
Think of it this way – if your getting web traffic today, that traffic will be arriving for a variety of reasons foremost of which will be because Google has indexed a particular page with a variety of phrases and therefore you do indeed get traffic for those phrases. But – if those particular phrases are in fact only getting say 400 searches per month as opposed to the main keyword phrase for your industry that might get say 40,000 searches per month – your leaving a lot of money on the table.
Wouldn’t it be good to know that what the most people are looking for is what your being found as?
Here’s a simple exercise you can try at any time – think about how customers might go about finding your product or service. Don’t include your company or brand name – remember they’ve not heard of you and just what to find someone who is the best at XYZ. Google that phrase – where do you appear in the search rankings?
Next major point of note: – the firm that sits at number one position will be perceived as being the industry leader, the best option for that given problem. There is a huge amount of credibility being associated with where firms are now placed in search rankings. If your number one – your number one – if your number 14 – your no one. Further more – that number one spot will be getting nearly half of all the search traffic. Between the top three spots, they share over 50% of all search click through. That’s why, if your serious about getting more leads and more sales from your website – you really need to be in that top three.
