Ten deceptive SEO company ‘tricks’

When it comes to SEO tactics, there are many ways for clients to be deceived.

Make sure you’re NOT one of them…

  1. Ranking No:1 in Google: Let’s face it there are hundreds of terms an SEO can rank first for & on the first page for in Google. Now, you have to remember it’s the quality of the search term you rank for that’s important. So how do you decide between a good search term and one that is just simply Ok? Well to start with if you count the number of words in the search term it’s usually harder to achieve high rankings the less words you have, however, if a short search term has an obscure word within it, it may be less competitive i.e. ‘SEO superstar’ would be a much easier search term to rank for than ‘SEO specialist‘ because the latter is searched for more often, meaning it is far more competitive.
  2. Ranking No:1 in Google: Does the SEO’s own domain name incorporate the search term used? It’s a fact, if you have the desired search term within your domain name you hold a distinct advantage. In fact if your SEO consultant ranks on the first page for a term that he/she has contained in his/her domain name it’s likely their knowledge of SEO is very limited indeed!! 
  3. Ranking No:1 in Google: Using Google Places – Yes, that’s right, there are businesses out there that will still maintain this is ‘proper SEO’ and it can be argued that they’re right – in a way. However, the skill required in achieving this ‘ranking’ is absolutely zero and we are all likely to diminish the ‘achievement’ further by asking “Did you add your business to Google places”, it’s that simple to do!
  4. Rank 1st page in Google: How often do you hear SEO companies promise that they will get you on the first page of Google results? What they should be talking about is how much relevant traffic they think they can achieve from natural online searches for your products or services.
  5. Ranking 1st page in Google – Guaranteed: It’s so easy to achieve if you target those particular keywords that no-one searches for or if there is very little competition for them! i.e. “Aoratherapy Technician in Bungay, Norfolk”. However, this tactic is definitely used as a hook by some SEO companies to drive enquiries through to their sales teams.
  6. First page On Google: Ok, so let’s say your SEO consultant convinces you that they can optimise your site properly and get you decent first page positions. What next? Have they discussed training? Have they shown you how to use your website properly?
  7. Is SEO purely about getting to the first page on Google?: Absolutely not, ask what experience the company has in helping to achieve online sales? What do they know about payment options? And what things should you look out for with credit card fraud? How good is their overall knowledge in your field of business? Let’s face it if an SEO consultant has enough knowledge wouldn’t they use it to set up their own rival business?! If not, then why not?
  8. Don’t be afraid to ask for references: Make sure you follow this up, regardless of how nice or knowledgeable the SEO/Developer seems!
  9. Dealing with international SEO Companies: It’s likely your SEO company will be based in India. Is it a problem? Well it depends on whether your business depends on the Queens english, there is a massive difference between Search Engine OptimiZation & Search Engine Optimisation. A bigger SEO company doesn’t automatically mean a better one, and a larger SEO company usually involves call centres or could even be just that – a call centre with operators who know a limited amount about SEO. Do you really want to work with an SEO company that asks for your account number before discussing why your SEO campaign is underperforming?!
  10. SEO for $39.99 pcm: If you see offers like this you can guarantee you will get what you pay for – very little! Let’s say you are in the retail business and your biggest competition is the high street. Do you really think you will be able to compete by spending this little on SEO?
Development, Marketing Online, Norfolk SEO Consultancy, Norwich SEO, Norwich SEO Consultancy, Online Marketing

Yet Another SEO Tutorial?

Christmas Holidays and New Year 2011 passed and we had time to sift through some SEO articles. So was there any ground breaking information out there, and if so, what was it? Well here are ten random articles:

Ten Powerful But Simple SEO Tips - 28 Nov 2010 . . Every business with an online presence should make SEO a top Priority. Here are ten easy but powerful Search Engine Optimisation Tips you … (TRUE but it’s the same ten tips covered by hundreds of other SEO articles.)

Five Ways to Use SEO to Enhance Your Page Ranking – 4 Nov 2010 … It can really be a big challenge to try to get visitors to enter your web page. Search engine optimization tries to take some of the … (Pagerank does not improve search engine positions if your website is poorly optimised.)

Some Important Tips on How to Get SEO Backlinks for Improving Your …9 Oct 2010 … Backlinks are probably the most important factor in your SEO. Some Webmasters claim that backlinks account for 60% of your rankings level. (Yes, links are an important aspect of ranking, if done correctly, but they will not significantly improve a websites ‘reach’.)

SEO Explained in Plain Terms 12 Feb 2010 … Search Engine Optimisation is the latest buzz word, thrown around all over the Internet, that promises a low cost solution to find new customers …  (Where have you been lately? An obvious ‘expert’ who thinks SEO is a new buzz word!!),

SEO Specialists 23 Jan 2010 … The world of search engine optimisation is changing everyday. A knowledgeable SEO Specialist must keep up with the ever changing technology. ( A knowledgeable SEO Specialist will already rank highly in Google, won’t they?!)

SEO Services You Can Get From a Good SEO Company – 1 Aug 2010 … There is a continuous rise in the number of people creating their own e-commerce sites or online businesses because they know there are good rewards … ( The Internet is the fastest growing marketplace and the best SEO’s will rule.  )


 “Yes, there is a similarity.” Everyday there are hundreds of articles written about the exact same thing…

It’s enough to send a guy to sleep!
SEO Pricing – 15 May 2010 … SEO is very important to the online business with on average the number of leads the search engines produce being anything from 60% – 100% … (Blimey an article aimed at SEO’s! Price should always reflect performance and if SEO’s do a good job clients will flourish and further business will come.)

Simple SEO Techniques – 25 Mar 2010 … SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation. This process is used for the promotion of online business. (Probably the 1,000,000th time this topic has been covered.)

Five SEO Secrets You Should Know Right Now – 1 Oct 2010 … Some say that when it comes to search engine optimisation, there are no more SEO secrets to be told. That is not completely true because… (If so, then isn’t it amazing that some SEO’s still manage to rank better than others?!)

SEO – Facts You Ought To Know About SEO – 2 Dec 2010 … There has been a lot of fuss about SEO or search engine optimisation. Some would say it would take months and even years to be on top of the rankings … ( SEO’s that claim they can achieve high rankings quickly for competitive keywords are likely to be using SEO techniques that are regarded as ‘black hat’. Failing that they are probably just saying it to ensure they get the SEO contract! There is a lot of fuss regarding SEO because professionals like us regard those who cheat people as scoundrels, who do nothing other than give the industry a bad name.)

SEO TOP TIP:

NEVER order SEO from a company that isn’t ranking highly for competitive SEO terms. If they have to advertise their services through Google AdWords it’s likely you will get your fingers badly burned.

I often write about what to be aware of but in this case what I’m highlighting is the lack of originality in many SEO articles. People who write this drivel tend to follow what’s been done before rather than trying to exploit new opportunities. This tactic isn’t likely to help your SEO campaign or help you with marketing ideas, nor will it help your business to exploit new markets.

SEO’s need to be more business savvy and more aware of helping their clients in achieving their goals.

SEO’s have to remember they are marketing your business to potential clients as well as achieving sales and enquiries. It’s got to be ethical to help a business – by opening their eyes to what’s happening online, and helping them to tackle issues of competitiveness etc.

The warning signs are always there prior to setting out on an SEO contract and they are most certainly present during the SEO contract period itself. If you have given your SEO consultant twelve months to get results and you still aren’t getting the desired online traffic then it’s time to look elsewhere!

Development, Online Marketing, Online Retail Stores, Search Engine News, Web Design

SEO – Optimising Conversion Rates

Here are six pointers on how to turn more of your website visitors into customers, this is something that has to be considered when optimising your website to obtain more traffic. 

It’s important to remember that your website will only cost you money when your visitors don’t convert into paying customers & for that reason, it’s important that you get the basics right:

1. What’s your website’s USP i.e. what’s in it for the visitor?

In reality you have only a few seconds to keep a visitor on your page by capturing their attention. If they’re not convinced within seconds that your site is worth reading, they’ll simply go elsewhere! By sending out a clear message that tells visitors what problems your product or service will solve for them you will vastly improve your chances of them becoming a paying customer. This piece of information should be presented as prominently as possible with graphic illustrations wherever possible, to add to the feel of the page.

2. Is your website trustworthy? Does it portray the fact that you run an honest business?

Tell your visitors who you are, don’t hide your address and make your contact telephone number prominent (landlines are best). If possible show customer reviews. Use whatever evidence you can put in front of your website audience to show them that you are the ‘real deal’ and that you can be trusted. Promote the fact you are a member of an industry recognised organisation and don’t be shy to talk about any awards your company has been awarded.

3. Does your website look professional?

Another way to create trust is to use a professional website design. Avoid clutter and extreme colours. Use a ‘clean’ design that makes it easy to read your web pages. If your website is displaying adverts consider if they are distracting your audience away from your precious content. Your website visitors might also wonder why your site shows so many ads for other companies when you’re supposed to be representing your own business. Creating doubt in their minds as to whether or not your business is a serious player in the marketplace is not to be recommended!

4. Make it as easy as possible for visitors

Tell them in easy to understand terms what you want them to do: “Download the free demo”, “Create a free account”, “Subscribe to our newsletter”, “Add to basket”, “Checkout here”, etc. Focus on a single task at a time and state why it would be good for the customer to complete that procedure. The less your site visitors have to think about, the more overall transactions you will witness.

5. Make it a risk-free experience for potential customers

Strongly underline your respect of customers’ privacy and remove any unnecessary fields from your sign-up forms. Avoid registration forms where possible but if they are needed then make them as short as possible. The more fields a form contains, the less people will tend to be bothered about completing it. By all means offer money back guarantees and other promises that prove to your audience your website is risk-free and that you are a brand to be trusted! Try adopting review websites and use the positive feedback you gain to your advantage.

6. Give search engines what they want while pleasing your website visitors

Creating on-page content without disrupting the user experience is crucial. It’s imperative to deliver on the page what the headline is portraying – the content has to be relevant to the page title presented to the search engine user. Increasing the conversion rate for your website is an easy way to increase your revenue without increasing the number of website visitors. The higher percentage of visitors that become customers, the more you will earn when your website gets listed on Google’s first page of results!

Obviously there are many more aspects that will enhance the user’s experience and the more you can refine this ‘customer journey’ the higher the rewards and returns you can expect.

Development, Online Retail Stores

SEO ‘Specialists’ who rely on Pay Per Click (PPC)

As bonifide SEO Specialists what really makes us smile is these companies offering SEO services who are clearly unable to achieve natural results for themselves. You will constantly find these unscrupulous chancers using Google Adwords to offer their ‘unrivaled services’ to the unsuspecting public. It pains us to see them staying in business, due mainly to the fact that most people still don’t know the difference between organic (natural) search results and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. Webserve Development has never used PPC to sell it’s SEO services because it would be akin to a fishmonger selling frozen fish! It’s just not cricket. For us to rank highly for a keyword it’s only right and proper that we fight for the position on a level playing field, the prize – a place at the top of the natural search results. After all, if we can’t get ourselves up there for ‘SEO’ keywords how can we be expected to achieve results for other companies?!! We concentrate on regional keywords such as “SEO Norwich“, “SEO Norfolk“, “SEO Specialist Norfolk” and “SEO Company Norfolk” as well as national search terms such as ”SEO Specialists” (first page) amongst many others. Our next target is “SEO Consultant” where we currently appear on the second page of Google’s natural results. PPC is fine but at the end of the day it’s only paid advertising, no different to paying a radio station to play your jingle. Any company can open a google AdWords account and target certain keywords for whatever price they are willing to pay. Although it can be profitable it rarely represents value for money and the effects will only last as long as your money, so let’s hope you have deep pockets! No, smart business people always look for a return on investment (ROI). So next time you see so called ‘SEO Companies’ using PPC to gain a presence on Google, ask yourself this:

  1. Why can’t they achieve the same positions naturally?!
  2. How can they justify their actions?
  3. If they can’t do it for themselves – how can they be expected to do it for you?!!!

Let’s face it, these companies are crediting you with absolutely zero intelligence, so why not get your own back on these self appointed, so called SEO specialists by clicking on their ads and costing them money?! It’s true though, when you explore the world of SEO you will discover a host of “unbelievable opportunities”, but as the old saying goes – “If it sounds too good to be true – it usually is.” No, good SEO takes time and effort, as well as planning and knowledge. If anyone tells you any different, promising you overnight results for a small fee, be wary. You can expect disappointment – don’t say we didn’t warn you!!

Search Engine News, Web Design

Targeting new customers with SEO

20122012 has to be the year when companies, yet to explore the SEO route, start thinking about the long term ambitions of their business. It really is a case of “wake up and smell the coffee” as far as many firms are concerned and they should be jumping with excitement at the prospect of embracing online marketing opportunities.

Search engine optimisation is an education in itself as it offers companies an in depth look at possibilities they never knew existed. In addition it provides them with a knowledge of what is happening online, in their particular sector. Every new client that Webserve advise is involved in this analysis of data and we use it as a blueprint to take our customers where they want to go. Imagine it as being just like using a road map to reach your destination.

So is it easy? Not exactly, it can be compared to farmers who sow their seeds with a view to gathering the crops later down the line. With SEO it’s important to understand that there are many competitors out there who have a head start. This applies to most sectors now so the first port of call, after the website has been developed, is to catch up with your competitors, let alone overtake them!

Obviously the more competitive the sector you are in, the more work there is to do to get you to that ‘catch up’ stage. But as you draw in that target and the customer enquiries start to increase your business can suddenly expand quite dramatically. It’s all about building a broader base that you can be ‘found’ from.

For Long term marketing, SEO outweighs all other types of advertising as the enquiries continue to flow well beyond the initial wave of investment. It’s a vehicle that will benefit your business for many years to come in fact.

Webserve have the means and expertise to help you target potential clients and turn them in to paying customers. The timescale relating to how long it will take is down to the business owner. One thing’s for sure though, the sooner you take the plunge the sooner you’ll be building towards the end goal!

Imagine for a moment that your website is a new house. As you know, properties have to be built brick by brick, well the same applies to website design and SEO. Whilst some companies ponder over the need for SEO others are busily stacking yet more bricks and continue to grow as a result of ongoing optimisation.

Make sure 2012 is the year that you start laying down the foundations for online success!

 

Online Marketing, Online Retail Stores
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SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION SPECIALISTS

Seo Specialists - Website Optimisation & Search Engine Optimisation Consultancy.

Thoroughly research relevent keywords specific to your business for effective SEO. The main purpose of organic SEO is to increase relevant or targeted traffic for all those right keywords through search engines. SEO can take up lots of effort plus depending on your industry it can sometimes take up lots of money. You should have a clear idea right from the start as to what keywords you want to target. There are a number of tools available on the Internet, even Google has a free tool for choosing keywords. Seo professionals will also target key phrases as well as those more difficult terms. These have lower volumes of traffic, but if enough of them are targeted the total will add up to a sizeable amount. By their very nature they will also have low levels of completion making it easier and quicker for you to achieve higher search engine rankings and get your SEO campaign of to a good start. Relevant content FOR seo makes your website information-rich, if the site provides meaningful information people will come back to it it will increases your keyword density and it gives your website ULP (unique linking property) this will increase those all important inbound links. Updating your website with new relevant content is a good long term SEO strategy which will drive you up the search engines. Make sure you have unique titles for every page as titles are used by the search engines to both rank and display pages. Leveraging your page titles will also increase your rankings and search engine traffic. Your description Meta tag should describe your page in one or two sentences, and of course include your keywords but also selling the page to the potential searcher. Content at the top of the page is considered more important than the content below, so ensure your SEO keywords are near the top of the page. Use semantic HTML where possible. Ensure you use semantic HTML and that your keywords appear within the header tags. Your website will need to be using search engine friendly URLs. Try not to use dynamically generated URLs, as these are usually lacking in keywords. I am happy to take on SEO in London or any of the other major cities like Manchester as SEO jobs or contracts can be undertaken as i work online. Talking about SEO, We have a new client who are specialist's in Pond Construction Security Norfolk  Letterboxes
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION Our goal is simple: we want to make the Internet a successful addition to your business. That means making websites user friendly and visible to web surfers by promoting the pages in the natural search engine results with the skills and contacts in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) that we have, also by using paid advertising methods such as Pay Per Click (PPC). As a Search engine optimisation specialist i can help drive more unique visitors to your website. This is far more complex than simple search engines submissions and to achieve increased volumes of traffic, your website will need to be optimised, if done correctly the site will will then be structured so that all pages are search engine friendly and get indexed. Achieving first page Search Engine listings naturally and effective PPC campaigns will bring regular visitors which your business can receive regular enquiries - The deciding factor then is what you have to offer potential customers. Through extensive research we know what works and what doesn't in SEO, with the key factor of our service being the actual website optimisation and link building. What is Search Engine Optimisation? Search Engine Optimisation is primarily about creating valuable information for the end user. Effectively Website Optimisation ensures that your companies website presents an excellent user experience, therefore growing in value to Search Engines through natural linking. Many think Search Engine Optimisation is only about manipulating placement results which isn't as effective as website Optimisation that is ensuring that your company's website delivers what potential clients want of which the search engines can interpret. Any site that follows these basic principles will find their website will add real value to their organisation, and once Website Optimisation is in place your website will be ready to compete for more competitive keywords. So Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Optimization as the Americans call it, is the practice of modifying a website so that it is considered to be Search Engine Friendly. If a website can be properly read by the search engine spiders, there is an increased probability of achieving desirable results in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). The primary task for any Search Engine Optimisation company is to understand your product and customers and the search terms these people are using to find a product or service related to the website owner. An aspect rarely mentioned is that to be good at SEO the specialist must have had lots of life experience which can only come with age One rule which we constantly preach to our clients is that in Search Engine Optimisation their content must be unique. It's no secret that google filters out websites or pages that contain duplicate content from other websites so its not a good idea to copy!! besides that every company is different so they should be shouting out about their good points and not someone else's. With SEO clients should be fully aware that when optimising websites, organic rankings don't increase overnight and it can take up to six months and even longer for highly competitive keywords. Other factors such as domain age can affect the time it takes also. Even your domain name can have an effect on search engine results. Generally though the more pages you have and the more articles you have, the more search terms related to your business you will rank highly for. One thing for sure after all the process of getting a website tuned and positioned gaining free traffic is that, it's well worth the effort and will bring you a consistent level of new found business of which your website will be responsible for, This is where your company starts to get a return on it's investment. If a jobs worth doing it's worth doing right!! I hope that after reading this you will see I know my job - and i know how to do it well!! A WORD OF WARNING Hiring as bad SEO company can also get your website banned as well as not achieving what you set out to do for the privilege of a fee.

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