Here you are – the proud owner of an impressive new website but with no clue how to drive traffic to it and ultimately make online sales.  The first step in driving traffic to your website is to engage in Search Engine Optimisation.  The good news is that with the right direction, it’s not that difficult to do and it only costs you your time…

What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

When we engage in SEO we are simply improving the content and functionality of our website so that it is more likely to appear when potential customers search for products and services like ours.  SEO should be an ongoing marketing process for your business so that you continue to improve the quality and quantity of customer traffic to your website, improving your chances of generating online sales. SEO is about driving unpaid traffic to your website (organic traffic). It’s about achieving a high organic ranking on a search engine for the products for which you want to be found. With SEO you are ranking high in search engine results because you’re a good, reliable match for something a potential customer has searched for. 

What specifically do I need to do to optimise my site for search engines?

Firstly you’ve got to audit your site – how is your sites loading speed on mobile and desktop?  Is your site easy to navigate?  Are there particular pages on your site from which people are more likely to exit?  There’s a great free tool from Google (Test My Site) that gives you a report on your sites performance and includes recommendations for how you can improve your site.  We would recommend that you use a tool like this to firstly take stock of your websites performance and see where improvements need to be made.

Next, you need to think about the content on your site.  Are you using keywords that your customers are typing into Google or another search engine to find products like yours?  Is your content useful, engaging or so entertaining that feel compelled to share?  Are you frequently providing new content on your site?  Are you ensuring that your page titles and descriptions include relevant keywords and are written well?  This is often referred to as On-Page SEO.

In addition to SEO we need to address off-page SEO.  This is about using off-site platforms such as social media channels to drive traffic to your website. It also includes the practice of building back links whereby other websites include links to your website (for example a local Tourist Board listing your hotel as a recommended accommodation in their area).  You may also use an Email Marketing Campaign to attract customers back to your website.

Do I need to hire a digital marketing agency to do my SEO?

The short answer is no! We believe that with the right guidance any small business owner can improve the performance of their website and ensure it is ranking for the right keywords.  You do not need to be an expert in digital marketing to be effective at website optimisation.

Short SEO Workshops for Small Businesses Owners

We are passionate about giving non-digital marketing experts enough knowledge and skills to competently manage their own SEO strategy.  You are customer facing on a daily basis and therefore are best placed to think the way your customer thinks and decide the content that they will be most attracted to.  Our programme is for businesses who are at beginner level with SEO and need some non-technical guidance with their digital marketing.  Think SEO 101! If you found that in the past you felt overwhelmed after marketing courses, talk of html, core web vitals, CPC, likes versus follows, then this is the course for you.  This course is about giving practical step-by-step guidance and introducing you to a number of free SEO tools that can help you to grow your online business.  If you’d like to learn more about our programme please click here.