How SEO can enhance your business profile
It is no good having a website if you don’t get any visitors. Of course, it is likely that Google – the world’s number one search engine – will stumble across your site eventually, but it is always best to direct them; and why settle for page ten, when your business could rank on page one for its most important keywords?
What is SEO?
Typing a set of keywords into Google can be likened to searching for a book in a library, with web crawlers and indexers all doing the hard work. Keying in a relevant word, or phrase, into the search engine, could churn out hundreds or thousands of results; however, the chances are users won’t look beyond the first two pages. Harsh when your website appears on page three or later.
The key to improving visibility on the web is ‘search engine optimisation’ (SEO), a term coined by US-based technologist and journalist Danny Sullivan in 1997. By using SEO tactics, you can manipulate the indexing so – when a user types a set of keywords into the search engine – your company appears higher up in the rankings.
With so many organisations vying for attention, without the use of SEO a company, particularly a small business, won’t have the edge on the competition: it will be buried beneath a sea of similar organisations who have employed SEO practices.
The Solution
Need help with SEO? These are just some of the ways you can enhance your company’s profile:
- Checking your web pages are structured correctly, with the right headers and paragraph tags.
- Ensuring you use ‘Google My Business’ so your organisation appears in local searches and maps.
- Making sure the information on ‘Google My Business’ matches what is on your website.
- Adding Alt-tags to images to give the search engine crawlers descriptions, so they can index them properly.
- Providing internal links to connect pages on your website, indicating the most important pages on your site.
Essex-based website design company Webwalrus will optimise your website from the start. Once your website is up and running, we can continue to work on your on-page SEO.
Register your interest today – quote code FEB2018 to receive a free month of service.
Outdated website? Here are three reasons to give it a fresh new look
When it comes to selling goods and services, first impressions count. With this in mind, a business’ website can be likened to the internet’s version of a high street ‘shop window’: giving browsers a glimpse of what is beyond in order to entice customers in.
As a first impression, a website that is difficult or confusing to navigate, has outdated information, broken links, or an appearance that is in need a revamp, is off-putting for consumers; like a shabby shop on the high street, it can drive customers into the hands of a competitor with a fresher, newer, and more up-to-date site.
Internet users in the UK spend more than 20 hours a week browsing the web, and research shows that most people access information online using their smartphone, rather than a laptop; this gives them the ability to obtain information at their fingertips 24 hours a day.
With 3.75 billion internet users worldwide, if you are a business promoting goods and services, particularly if you are a small business, the outreach potential – on a local, regional, national and even on an international scale – is vast. This gives consumers more choice; however, greater selection goes hand-in-hand with increased competition…so as a business it is important to be ahead of the game.
Three reasons why it is important to update a website:
- Gain consumer trust
Websites that look professional gain more trust from consumers and this, in turn, can help turn a customer enquiry into a sale. On the other hand, outdated websites, or poorly designed websites won’t give the right impression. Worse, it can drive a sale away as a customer will assume that this lack of detail extends to other areas of the business and they won’t receive a good service.
- Increase sales
Is your website in need of a refresh or overhaul? A website that is attractive, easy to navigate, with up-to-date information and good images, is more likely to lead to a sale as customers will spend more time on the site. What you don’t want is a customer to click on dead links, incorrect content information, or broken pages and abandon your site in frustration to buy from a competitor with a more user-friendly version.
- Drive traffic to your site
Adding more content and updating your website can lead to higher rankings in the search engines. If you site is refreshed, with regular content and more keywords, Google will notice your site is updated and active and this, in turn, could lead to a greater presence online.
About Webwalrus
Is your site in need of an update? Webwalrus can ‘Spring Clean’ your website and ensure that it stays maintained and updated. This includes checking for dead links, incorrect contact information, outdated content, broken pages, insecure plugins and more. Contact Webwalrus today to find out more
Quote FEB2018 to receive a free month of service.
Ask a person what material item they can’t do without, and the chances are it’ll be their smartphone. Recent statistics show that 94% of people carry a mobile phone in the UK, and 76% use a smartphone. Add to this desktops, laptops and tablets, and you have a multitude of screen sizes, from widescreens to pocket size displays, all requiring web content to fit their device perfectly, for the ultimate in readability and usability.
In this day and age a mobile-friendly design is vital to drive traffic to your website. Why? Gone are the days when people order goods and services over the telephone or strictly from their desktop. Instead, they browse the web when they are out and about: on public transport, walking through town, in restaurants and bars, at their workplace and on nights out.
With this in mind, it is a given fact that responsive websites – that is websites that automatically shift content to fit the user’s screen – get more views. And, with millions of people in the UK using the web on a daily basis, increased visibility is a key part in generating more sales for your business.
Why responsive sites get greater visibility
Mobile Responsive Website With Your Breakfast
In today’s fast-paced world, consumers demand to buy products and gain information on goods and services quickly, and in the most convenient way possible; waiting is no longer an option. With so many websites competing with one another, if a customer can’t get the information they need instantly on their smartphone, or tablet, no matter how good your product, they will soon give up and visit a competitor who can give them what they want.
Top turn-offs for potential customers are slow loading sites, ‘busy’ sites with fancy sliders or videos that take ages to upload, and websites with content that users are not able to access easily. It’s not just off-putting for potential customers either. Google, the world’s most popular search engine, favours websites that can be easily read on a mobile device.
In a nutshell, websites with a mobile-friendly design are more likely to receive higher rankings in the search engine. Greater visibility goes hand-in-hand with increased consumer trust, and the more credible your company appears, the greater the likelihood of a sale. What’s not to like?
Is your website in need of a revamp, and at the right price too? Contact Essex-based Webwalrus to overhaul your existing website and make it responsive (mobile-friendly).
Quote code FEB2018 to receive a free month of service. Click here to find out more
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