Back in the 1990’s, a new kid landed on the cyber-block. You may have heard her name - she’s called ‘The Internet’. Within a few years of her birth, she produced her own child; an offspring who has enjoyed enigmatic status. Known as SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, he has become enveloped in mystique, myth and legend. He’s feared by some, usually out of ignorance; loved by others - those who appreciate his true value.

So - what is SEO? What does it do and why should you care?


The term was first coined by one Jason Gambert, back in 1995. He describes SEO as a process. The process of engineering a website so that it appears as high as possible in the search engines for specific key words or phrases. Success with SEO means more website visitors. Something we all want.

As a company, you’ll have a marketing plan. SEO should be a cornerstone of this plan - and here’s why -

- Leads that come from the search engines close at an average of 15%. This is 12% higher than the conversion rate for conventional outbound leads.

- Over 65% of consumers research online before making a large purchase on the web.

- Blogging is a leading source of leads for businesses when they are properly optimised for SEO. You see - the search engines love websites which are evolving, expanding. What better way to do this than with blogs? A blog that’s optimised with your key words and phrases will give your website every chance of leaping up those search engines. SEO will make sure the right people are looking at the right blogs and start to bring traffic to your site.

Implementing an effective SEO strategy isn’t easy. One thing’s for sure. Don’t try and be clever. Don’t try to hoodwink Mr. Google. For he’s cleverer than you think. Take him on - and you’ll lose. Work with him - and you’ll give yourself the best chance of climbing those search engines and reaching the holy grail of Page 1 of Google. Gone are the days when you could plaster your search terms all over your website and find yourself at the top. These days, what counts most is lots of visitors who

1. Stay on your website (and yes - Mr. Google does time your visitors!)

2. Move from page to page within your website

Do you fancy taking up the challenge and optimising your own website for SEO? Great! Here are few tips to help you on your way -


1. Keyword research - finding out what words and phrases your potential customers use when looking for your products or phrases

You can do this either by checking out your competitors who appear

high in the search engines and see what key words and phrases they are using. Or you can use one of many online tools that will do the research for you. A handy free one is Google’s own Keyword Planner.
 You can find phrases by entering the URL of a competitor site into the form they provide.

Remember to re-visit your list of key phrases regularly. If other phrases are recommended, don’t be afraid to swap your existing phrases for new ones.

2. Follow your local fishmonger. Keep things fresh


The search engines all agree that your content should be fresh and relevant. So, always think of ways of adding pages, paragraphs or even a few sentences to your content. Of course, regular blogging is ideal for this.

3. Applying Keywords to your website


Now that you’ve identified which key words and phrases really matter to your customers., you need to use them on your website. But how? Well - you can begin by including them in the H1 heading of your pages. Your web developer will help you with this. The H1 heading is simply the page heading. Then, you can ask your developer to make sure that each page and each image is ‘tagged’ with relevant key words and phrases. This will help too.

4. There are many more ways to be successful with SEO


and this is where we come in. SEO is just one of our specialities. To find out more, call us on 01604 792244.

How will I know my SEO is working?

The great thing about the web is that it’s easy to track how successful your website is at attracting and keeping visitors. There are many tools that enable you to keep tabs on your website - where your visitors are, how they found you, what search terms they used, which pages they visited and for how long. Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools are both free. They’ll tell you all you need to know about what’s working for your site and what isn’t.

Content is king but functionality is queen

We’re agreed that the words on your website are a cornerstone of its success at attracting and keeping visitors to your pages. But just as critical is the ‘functionality’ of the site. How well is it structured? How easy is it to navigate, to find what your clients are looking for? How clear and well-defined are the links? In short, how user-friendly is your website? You won’t be surprised to hear that to help you get this right, all you need is your friendly Digital Superheroes.
To find out more about SEO, call your Digital Superhero hotline - 01604 792244 - today!