I’ve begun to wonder whether small businesses are getting too het up on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) at the expense of the rest of their marketing strategy.
Don’t get me wrong, getting found on Google is important. But is it important enough to pin all your hopes, dreams and marketing budget on? I mean, are people actually going to Google for your product or service? And when they do, will it revolutionise your business?
A close friend of mine runs a retail company. She invested several thousand pounds last year in an SEO company who promised to get her to page one of Google since he’d done the same thing for two of her competitors. Given that she sells product online it seemed like a sensible thing to do. She has a nice looking website and although there are many improvements that could be made, the site looks good and is converting visitors at the moment.
A year later (and several weeks of nailbiting disappointment whilst she was blacklisted as he’d left the server open and some Chinese casino hackers had put dodgy code in her site) she is finally on page one of Google. And she told me that she used to think that this was the holy grail. That once she was on page one of Google her business would skyrocket. Well she’s getting an extra six hits a week. In what she does that’s not translating into significant sales to make the process worthwhile.
My feeling is that she should be using social media: blogging, twitter and facebook, to drive more traffic to the site. All of these things are free, but time consuming. There are also plenty of things that we could do to her site to make it more sticky and process visitors through it more effectively.
My experience is that small businesses regularly invest huge chunks of money in getting their sites optimised, without looking at the fundamentals.
I was talking to one business owner who was number one on Google in his particular niche… but he had an 80% bounce rate! He was loathe to have anyone touch the site because he didn’t want to fall off the bottom of the search engines. But the design of his website was putting people off, and that’s before he’s thought about the sales structure on there.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t optimise your site; but I do think that before you start paying for people to visit it you should make sure that every last element of your site will do everything it can to convert visitors. And I think that’s the missing link for many small businesses.
If you sell a product that people can buy online, then yes, optimise away. But only once you’ve got the rest of your house in order.
Start with the design. Is it engaging, arresting and attractive to your potential clients? Does it do you justice? Then take a look at the copy: objectively as a human being (not as a search engine). Writing for search engines is all very well, but it’s boring to read. And what you must remember is that once people get to your site they’ll need to be interested in what you have to say.
How about the way your website guides potential visitors to take action? Is that clear? For example, if you want people to buy a particular lawnmower this month, have you asked them to? Have you signposted them around the site?
What’s your imagery like? Naff stock photos or something that’s inspiring and represents your business well? Do you have an easy way of capturing peoples data, via a contact form or newsletter sign up box? Are you doing all you can on social media to bring traffic to your site?
I’d be looking at all of these elements well prior to search engine optimisation. What do you think though? I sense this might be a little controversial!
I agree 100%. When we talk to our clients about SEO it is impossible for me not to look at other aspects of their marketing mix and of course conversion of the site. SEO on it’s own is simply a waste of money. Also I think that just like twitter, facebook etc – seo is free and simply requires a cms and some training…business owners should just seo as they go and then get on with promoting their business the hard way.
Actually, I don’t think it is contraversial at all!
I believe that it doesn’t matter where your website is on Google or any other search engine. If you haven’t got a great website and the copy isn’t engaging your visitors won’t stay. Surely, it is better to have visitors that stick around and want to check out what else you can do rather than one click wonders who don’t want what you offer, or aren’t impressed with your site? Of course, that isn’t to say I don’t believe it is a good idea to optimise your website, but it is just a small part of the overall package.
Like Zoe, I agree with you 100%.
Spot on Fi, a little controversial for some perhaps but for most of us I think, very reassuring. The world of SEO can be daunting, expensive and reap fairly limited ROI without the right know how, but taking pride in quality design, compelling copy and strong cals to action are somethign that we can all do immediatley to improve our chances of online success.
If we’re not big on line buffs, tweeting and FBing every spare minute, then face to face networking is another great way of driving traffic to your site.
What a shock and dissapointment it would be for a potential new client or contact who got warm and fuzzy’s from us at a networking event was confronted with a brilliantly optimised but poorly presented site with drab SEO friendly non human friendly copy. All the good time and effort invested in making a good first impression gone to waste.
I can say from experience that what the Flourish team have done for my site has been huge in terms of ROI and not just in terms of people commenting on how lovely and fresh and on brand it looks (although they have in droves) but that my conversion rate has risen and people who have been lurking on the blog for a while are now retweeting or calling me about workshops and events! So thank you!
I haven’t even touched SEO yet, I know that now I can start to look at that with confidence that it can only add to the value already there and not replace it as a short cut quick fix that we might mistakenly believe it to be. Great work as usual Fi thanks.
Eli
p.s sorry for the rambling as you can tell I feel almost as passionately as you do about it!
Thank you all! Much appreciated comments as usual. Very true that your website needs to back up who you are in the flesh Elizabeth. And I think that for many of us that are in service industries, that’s absolutely the point of a website – to reaffirm and build confidence. (thank you also for the glowing testimonial!)
Nicky, I agree. Just one small part of a v. small package.
And Zoe… How refreshing to hear an SEO expert be honest and say that it’s just about common sense and hard graft! There’s too much shrouded in mystery with this art methinks!
Hi Fiona
We’ve not met but I’ve been directed to your site by a mutual colleague!
I am an internet marketing consultant, and specialize in SEO, but like the others, I can’t help but agree with what you say! I always begin work with a new client by undertaking a health check/site audit, even if the client is convinced that its just SEO they need. All too often, there are some other glaring issues on the site that need addressing first, BEFORE they start to drive visitors to the site.
I must admit I am passionate about SEO, but then again I am also passionate about usability and websites driving success. It makes little sense, as you say, to drive visitors to a site that just then leave in their droves as they can’t find what they want, or don’t like what they see.
Also, being on the first page of Google for a particular phrase doesn’t necessarily guarantee success – SEO needs to be about assessing and targetting keywords that drive visitors who engage and convert regardless of the position of the keyword. All too often, a goal of #1 position, is simply not enough.
I like to think of websites as organic, growing and holistic. And as in all things in life, a website needs a balance!
thank you Wendy. And how very refreshing! It’s like the old coaching connundrum isn’t it? You go with one reported problem and walk away having solved three others you didn’t realise were an issue! Quite often the website is the symptom, not the cause…
This is a very interesting post and perspective… I agree that SEO isn’t the holy grail. While it’s important for customers to find you, often these unscrupulous SEO agencies 1) sacrifice good design for SEO pratises on your web page and 2) often don’t get you on the first page of Google for the right key words… as in your friend’s example!
As a rule of thumb, if any one promises to get you to place one on first page of Google… run for the hills!
Cheers,
Sian