Top 12 Website Tips. How to work with the Search Engines

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1 Top 12 Website Tips 1. Put your website at the heart of your marketing strategy 2. Have a clear purpose for your website 3. Do extensive SEO keyword research 4. Understand what your online competitors are doing 5. Choose a keyword rich domain name 6. Relevant content based around key word groups 7. Design and images to engage your audience 8. Have your message and contact details above the fold 9. Host on secure and fast UK servers 10. Individually optimise each web page 11. Create a Google + Local and mobile profile 12. Implement tracking and improvement tools. How to work with the Search Engines Due to the number of search engine algorithm changes during 2012 and specifically 2013, you may be struggling to keep up with search engine optimisation (SEO). Basically, the search engines overriding objective hasn t changed since they were first introduced (as far back as 1945 see Put simply, their task is to serve up the best possible results based on the search query. This could be sponsored (paid search) or natural (organic search). Google dramatically improved the results when they burst onto the scene in 1998 and continued to create sophisticated search engine software to this very day. With their powerful servers to index and rank billions of web pages resulting from the complicated algorithms, Google has been the dominating search engine in the UK. One of the main reasons that Google has been successful at serving up the best results is links. It was one of the founding principles that links to a website served as a testimonial or endorsement to that website. Over the years many a SEO specialist has built up a websites ranking by implementing a link strategy. Sadly, many of these links have been low quality link farms that are not an endorsement of the website s content at all. The Google Penguin, Pandaand Hummingbird algorithm updates have been penalising websites that have low quality links, duplicate (and poor) content and pages spammed full of keywords. So it is back to basics with great content that people want to endorse and therefore naturally gain high quality links. It is also about local, as the search engines will try and serve up the best and closest result to the searchers location. This is because the search engine recognises the IP address

2 from the searcher and is more relevant when people search on mobile devices as it will pick up their location. My website tips therefore, use these principles and will help you build strong foundations to give your web pages a fighting chance to get found amongst the huge number of competing web pages. Many business owners I speak with have what they believe is a good looking website but they are not doing anything with it. In fact most tell me that it doesn t work and was probably a waste of money, but felt that their business must have a website. When I look at their websites I can quickly see that they haven t been set up correctly for a number of reasons. It could be that the design, layout, content and images are just not compelling enough to engage with visitors. However, the main reason it s not working is because the website doesn t get many visitors. This is because the website and pages haven t been set up for the search engines and therefore potential customers cannot find their business online. Search engine optimisation is like any other marketing activity in that you have to have a strategy and then create quality material that get the message across and find efficient ways to promote your material to your target market. A website should follow this strategy. So here are the top 12 tips in more detail: 1. Put your website at the heart of your marketing strategy Instead of neglecting the website, which may be isolated from the rest of your marketing strategy, bring it into the heart of all your digital marketing activity. Use online and offline tactics to drive traffic to the website, such as any material that comes into contact with existing and prospective customers should have a link or reference to the relevant web page. Not the home page as in most cases, but to a page that is relevant to the marketing message. This way your visitor can see the message that they are expecting, gain more information if required, enquire further or buy. A strong call to action is necessary here such as time limited offer, free trail or further information in exchange for the visitors contact details. As well as getting more visitors and hopefully more enquiries you will be able to measure how well your marketing efforts are doing if you install analytics code on the website. 2. Have a clear purpose for your website What do you want the website to achieve and is it aligned to the overall objectives of the business? Is it targeting the type of customer you want to do

3 business with? Another issue that many business owners face is that they may have high visitor traffic and potentially high enquiry rate but very low conversion. This may be because the website attracts a lot of visitors but you are unable to do business with them for whatever reason. Also, each page should have an objective to engage and educate the visitor and make them want more. Once you understand the purpose and the ideal customer persona you can then research the words that these visitors may put into the search engine search box. 3. Do extensive SEO keyword research Spend as much time as necessary to research the potential words and phrases people may type into the search engine search box. The best place to start is to use Google s Adwords free tool ( to help you find a whole range of keywords and phrases. The best balance is to find keyword phrases with some good search volume but with lower competition from other websites. Group the keywords by the service, product or vertical market you are selling to. Use your potential customers language not yours. There are a number of more comprehensive keyword finder applications that will help you find niche keyword phrases and how to beat the competition. These applications are available through subscription or to download at a reasonable cost. 4. Understand what your online competitors are doing Understanding who your offline and online competitors are, what they are saying, who their customers are and what they are charging will you help position your offer. Using some simple techniques like viewing the source code on a competitors website you may be able to find out how optimised their website is. There are also tools that will help you find out which competitors rank for the keyword phrases you want to target and will also tell you the websites and directories linking to the competitor s web pages. 5. Choose a keyword rich domain name Once you have found the keywords that are best suited to your offering and you know that there is a market there due to the number of monthly searches now think about the domain name. This doesn t need to be your business name. A

4 great example of this is which of course is B&Q, part of the Kingfisher Plc. There are many domain name options available now apart from the usual.co.uk and.com. If your business is trading solely in the UK then.co.uk would be potential better for local search. Also, consider a hyphen in the domain if a chosen domain is already taken and if you just serve a local area then put the name of the area in the domain. For example would be excellent if you area plasterer operating in Birmingham. Having a domain name that makes it obvious want you do and where you are not only helps the searcher but helps the search engine find your website as well. For companies that operate nationally or international this wouldn t be appropriate and build a good brand would be the objective. 6. Relevant content based around key word groups Now you have found your ideal keywords and a good relevant domain name, you should look at your key word groups and create pages and content around them. Content is king, so make it good. You may want to hire the services of a professional copywriter as it is important to get this right. Don t go over the top with keywords though; a keyword density of around 5% of the overall words is ideal. Use the keywords like you would write a professional reference article. The page titles, H1 header tags, bullets and words should all relate to the keyword group. For example a plasterer may set up the content in a way that start with plasterer, then plastering, then types of plastering, then tools and methods used in plastering, followed by examples of work undertaken. Don t get too technical though and keep it simple. Start the content by relating to some of the problems the visitor may be having, as a lot of search terms are based around the problem and not the solution. 7. Design and images to engage your audience Once you understand who your potential customer is and the words that would likely to use you can now think about the design. You may want to speak with a few website designers to get an understanding of their work. Always think from your audience s perspective. What would they like to see and how would they like to navigate the website.

5 If you provide a product then may be it could be sold online and therefore the website needs to look like a shop. This may sound obvious but there are many websites where it is hard to find a buy button. If you provide a service then connect with the visitor through testimonials or case studies and an offer such as free consultation. 8. Have your message and contact details above the fold So many website fail because the visitor has to scroll down or click through to find out if the business can help them and also to find the contact details. Guess what, your potential visitors are in a hurry, have little patience and will probably move on to the next competitor. Therefore ensure there is a clear message at the top of each web page along with telephone number and details. This is even more important when people are browsing on a mobile device as they will want you get these details as quickly as possible. 9. Host on secure and fast UK based servers I have thrown this one in here as it important for a number of reasons. There are so many cheap hosting options available, but what security do they provide? If the servers host thousands of websites from around the world how safe are they from security breach, failure, virus protection? Are the servers in a low security building and are backed-up, is there a guaranteed up time and how fast are they? Surprisingly I am rarely asked any of these questions. Yet there are many business owners that have experienced their website running slow, or being infected by a virus. What about the service and support available? Is it or ticket support, which may be answered in 24 hours or possibly telephone support on a premium number? The faster and more secure the server, then the better the experience for your visitor. Knowing that the servers are based in secure building in UK data centres and that you can call a support desk at no additional cost means your business can run smoothly. Search engines will also rank websites hosted on fast secure servers in a more positive way. 10. Individually optimise each web page When creating new pages within your website also ensure each web page has a page name that relates to the keywords on that page. For example a plumber

6 based in Worcester may have a page relating to central heating. So the page URL could be which would help the search engine offer up the correct page when someone searches for central heating plumber worcester, rather than the home page or a page that explains bathroom fitting. Many of the common mistakes businesses make when optimising their websites is that they use the same keywords and meta description for every page. This is not good if you have several pages on the website. Put yourself in the position of a search engine. If the website had 10 pages and each page had been set up with the same keywords then the search engine has 1 in 10 chance of pulling forward the correct page for the searcher. This means the results may not be accurate and then the searcher may feel the search engine is letting them down. Therefore the search engine will rank websites that are set up this way very low. 11. Create a Google + Local and mobile profile 2012 was the year of Google+ Local, when Google moved their Places into their Google Plus social platform. This has and will be major game changer for Google as more business set up their profiles and reach out to their circles. Facebook has its place, but for B2B Google Plus could be the best platform to use. On the principle that search engines try and serve up the best local results (see above) it is very important to claim your business Google + Local page This is free if you do it yourself. You will need to create a Google account and then follow the instructions. Personally, I would recommend that you get professional help to ensure that you create the best profile possible. It is here where you can also ask your clients to post testimonials and the more you get the higher your website will rank. Having and managing a great Google + Local listing will help you dominate your local market. While we are on the subject of local, it is important that you have a mobile friendly website. You could have your main website coded so that it not only renders correctly on a mobile device but displays prominently the main contact details. Or you could have a mobile website or app custom built. All these options can be expensive. There is a much cheaper and probably a very suitable alternative and that it is to get a mobile website or web page (an

7 example can be found at built on a template but customised with your colours, images and logo. 12. Implement tracking and improvement tools. Once you have your website set up and optimised to the best of your ability and budget, you will need to track all the activity. That is the great thing about digital marketing. If you drive traffic to your website by on page or off page tactics you can measure all what works and importantly what doesn t. Google analytics tracking software is free and quite easy to install. However, the tracking results can be overwhelming as there is so much detail that you can get lost in the data. If you are a B2B company then my personal recommendation is to use analytics software that is not only easy to use but helps you identify the companies that are visiting your website. Reverse IP lookup is great and will help you find warm leads as well as understanding what they are looking for. Summary. Well, I hope these website tips help you understand how search engines works, what they are looking for and how you can help them rank you better. I also hope you understand how you can improve your website work to make it work for you and give you a great return on investment. There are many other things that you can do with your website to make digital marketing a huge success and with a small marketing budget. We haven t even looked at paid search and online advertising as these areas can really help as long as they are set up and managed correctly. Always work with an expert, who focuses on your success and not their invoice. On that note if you want any further information please contact me on or at info@britnettcentral.co.uk. Thank you for your time Brendan Moran Digital Marketing Strategist