Creating an online persona

SEO

Beginner’s Guide to SEO

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With over 4.6 billion internet users worldwide, and over 7 billion searches on Google a day, making sure your website is noticed is a must. Which is why it’s important to consider using a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign to improve your online presence and make your website visible.

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of optimising your content to improve its ranking on search engines results pages (SERPs), increasing your website traffic.

Search engines use bots to ‘crawl’ pages to gather information and place these pages in an index, where various factors are analysed to determine where they rank on search engines.

As a business, it’s important that you have a clear outline of what your objectives are before implementing an SEO strategy. Having an idea of what you’re striving towards will help formulate an SEO plan and the steps you’ll take to reach those goals.

If you’re unsure as to what your SEO objectives may be, think about what your business objectives are and how implementing an SEO campaign can help you reach those objectives.

Target audience

Your target audience are the people looking for your business’s services online.

Understanding your target audience is crucial to SEO, as you’re essentially tailoring your website to reach this audience.

A great way to better understand your target audience is to create an online persona. Think of your ideal customer and create a character based on that person – this will become your online persona that helps you tailor your marketing material including website content to target that person.

A few tips to help you create this persona include reflecting on the person’s goals and the challenges they may face trying to achieve them. Think of how your products and services may be the solution for those obstacles. These steps work together to help form a personality that gives you a better understanding of how your audience thinks and how you can market to them.

Our blog has further information to help you create an online persona.

Keywords

Once you have your target audience agreed and in mind, you can start to think of content for your website which will include keywords which will form a vital part of your SEO strategy.

Keywords are words and phrases that search engines use to determine what is on your website. When used properly, keywords can help boost how your website ranks on search engines, driving more traffic to your website.

With keywords it’s all about being specific to your business. With 53% of website visitors coming from organic search, thinking about what your target audience would type in the search engine function is a great place to start to help you create a list of the keywords for your audience.

However, a word of caution, excessive keyword use on a webpage can have an adverse effect on your rankings – this is known as keyword stuffing. So, high quality content should be fresh, unique and relevant to your target audience. Use your researched keywords within your web page which will help search engines understand what is on that page. Using the relevant keywords will ensure that visitors are getting the content they came for and not leaving too soon.

There are a number of keyword research tools online to help you work out what your keywords are, such as the Wordstream and Moz keyword research tools, and our how to improve onsite SEO with keywords blog also provides further insight on keywords.

Meta-descriptions

Another great SEO tip is to improve the quality of your meta-descriptions. The meta-description is a small snippet of text that appears under your webpage on search engines, to act as a summary of what the audience will find on your page and help boost click through rate (CTR) on SERPs. On search engines such as Google, the meta-description appears as a short paragraph below the web page title.

Good meta-descriptions are up to 160 characters and include targeted keywords.

Image optimisation

The optimisation of images on a website is also important and can be done in different ways. One way you can do this is by ensuring that every image has alt text – a written version of what the image contains. This helps:

  • When the image fails to show up for any unknown reason, as the alt text will be used as a substitute,
  • Screen readers as they read out the alt text to help the visually impaired better understand the page
  • Allowing search engines to crawl and rank your website

You should always try to include targeted keywords in your alt text as they’re another indication to search engines that your page is relevant to that search.

Optimising your images also includes making sure that they’re not too large, as the larger an image is the longer it may take to load. This may slow the load speed of your website and increase the bounce rate, the percentage of visitors that visit a page and leave instead of visiting other pages too. Research carried out by Google has shown that 53% of mobile users leave a website that takes longer than three seconds to load, further proof that you need to manage image size and load speed. 

Link building is the process of having internal and external links throughout your website content.

Internal links to other pages on your website help by:

  • Easing navigation around your website
  • Enabling search engines to crawl your website more easily  
  • Guiding traffic to specific pages
  • Improving engagement and time spent on your website

While internal link building focuses on connecting pages on your website, external link building is all about your website URL being on other websites which then direct back to your website – also known as a referring domain. 

Search engines look at the quality of the links and the quantity to help give you a domain authority score. The domain authority is a report of how relevant your website is in any specific area or market. Websites with a high domain authority score will be seen as a more trusted source and rank higher than those with lower scores, so it’s important to increase your score where possible.

The best way of getting your website on another domain is through online directories and Google My Business is perhaps the most important online directory for you to be on. For more details on Google My Business, visit our Setting up Google My Business blog.

We’ve also listed some alternative directories to help you grow your list of online directories to be featured on.

Web design

How your website is designed has a larger impact on your SEO than you may think.  Search engine bots emulate the behaviour of visitors, so if they see that users are leaving your page quickly due to bad user experience, your page will get ranked down. The opposite also applies if visitors have a good user experience your website ranking will increase.

That’s why having a well-designed website can be a strong contributing factor in your SEO strategy. The best websites:

  • Are easy to navigate
  • Have fast load speed
  • Create brand consistency
  • Are responsive

A responsive website is a website that adjusts its appearance according to the device it’s being viewed on. Websites are not only being viewed on desktop devices,  mobile devices account for half of website traffic. This makes it clear that having a responsive website is crucial, as you can’t guarantee what device your website is going to be viewed on. Also, responsive websites load much faster, this improves user experience and helps your website rank higher in search engine results pages – Google certainly favours websites with faster load times.

As a digital marketing agency, we offer web design services tailoring a website to the needs of the business.

Landing pages

An SEO landing page is a specific page on your website used to convert visitors into leads. Landing pages usually have the following:

  • Succinct content with keywords relevant to your target audience
  • Bold calls to action (CTA)
  • Forms – for lead generation
  • Thank you pages – to continue the conversation and market something else to your leads

Landing pages are a great way to gather data whilst also generating leads. When creating landing pages, it’s important to pay attention to how visitors interact with the web page. For example, if you see that your page has a lot of visits, but the conversions aren’t matching this could mean that the layout of your page needs to be reworked. We would always recommend creating a specific landing page if you progress with a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising campaign.

SEO agency Croydon

There’s a lot to consider but we hope this guide has given you a good overview of the type of activity you can implement to kick start an SEO campaign for your business.

By incorporating SEO into your marketing strategy, you can enhance brand perception and online presence as it helps your business rank better in search engines. This can help generate a better rate of enquiries due to improved visibility.

If you feel you need support in getting your website optimised, then get in touch with Smart Cow Marketing to discuss your SEO needs further.

Inbound Marketing strategy

How to achieve growth with inbound marketing

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This blog covers some of the steps to consider to help you achieve growth with your inbound marketing strategy. Right now, businesses are vying for attention online as we’ve all shifted focus to conducting business remotely. Our networking events and exhibitions have gone for now, and everyone is searching online for services and products.

With 89% of B2B buyers and 81% of consumer shoppers starting their online search for products or services by turning to Google, how do you get your business in the mix? How can you generate web traffic via search engines and get good qualified leads who are interested in your products and services visiting your website?

Here’s a few tips on achieving growth with an inbound marketing strategy that attracts leads that are right for your business.

Who are your customers?

If you don’t already know who your core customers are, then you need to. This will ensure that any inbound marketing is targeting the right people, with the right messages and when they want to hear from you. This means that your budget is more efficient and provides a better return on investment.

Be consistent

Now you understand your target audience and their needs and challenges then you need to tailor content for them. You need to make your messages consistent across all marketing platforms. Creating a core message document with a tone of voice specific to your business helps. As well as creating an online buyer persona of the person you would like as your customer.

Being consistent helps build trust for your brand.

Content marketing

Now you need to attract customers. Part of your lead generation strategy is to get people to your door and that means to your website. Therefore, great content is what you need including keywords that will help with website optimisation and your website rising in search rankings.

We recommend you have a blog page for your website which allows you to update relevant and unique content regularly to your website. Include your researched keywords in a blog post not only for SEO but to continue that consistency of messaging.

This is all part of lead nurturing. You want to engage with your prospects and maintain your existing customers. So become that thought leader with interesting content offering advice that solves their problems. Know any industry legislation that will impact their business and provide informative templates and eBooks that can help grow their business. 

Be professional yet approachable

Having a relevant social media account can help with this, especially of you are an accounting firm. However more often than not accountants are inclined to the think that social media is not the right channel for them. However, it’s worth remembering that social media is not all about Tik Tok and photographing food. Your audience is somewhere on social media.

It’s about thinking of the right social platform relevant for the people you want to reach. For example, LinkedIn is perfect for networking and ideal for reaching out to SMEs in a professional manner. However, don’t dismiss the virtues of Facebook. If you think of Facebook as another search engine. If for example your accounting firm has a company page on this channel then this helps reassure people about your firm.

Inbound marketing agency in Surrey

If you’re looking for qualified leads become a lead generation magnet with the help of Smart Cow. Take a closer look at our marketing services or book a consultation and we can discuss digital marketing strategy that is best to achieve your business goals.

We specialise in digital marketing for accountants as well as providing digital marketing services and web design for local businesses within Croydon. If you’re looking to grow your business, get in touch.

Find out more about lead generation strategies for your business in our blog.

Web design

3 steps for website improvement

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While you may find that you fixate on the website design initially, you must always consider the look of your site alongside the overall user experience at design and development stage.

When working with a web designer take a collaborative approach, have your ideas for the website appearance, but be open to tips about website structure and navigation that will come from years of experience.   

Here we provide three areas of focus that will help you create a winning website whether it’s a new site or you’re embarking on updating your current website.   

1. Understand your website user 

Your web content needs to be of interest to your target audience. A website today is not just about nice pictures and text, it’s much more than a brochure site. It’s a place where you want to send all web traffic, whether from links on social posts, online advertising or guest blogs. So, you need engaging content to keep visitors on your website. You can only do this by understanding the challenges and demands that your clients and prospects are facing to ensure that your content gives them answers to their questions.  

Whether you’re selling products or services, help them to find information and pricing simply. We understand that in some sectors, such as accounting, it may not be a one size fits all approach to pricing as services are tailored to each client. However, a call to action offering a free consultation to discuss requirements can be helpful. But, where you can list baseline prices such as ‘starting from’, this can help push that initial engagement.   

Your content marketing strategy should include regular writing for your website for a blog/news page. We work a lot with professional services firms such as accountants and this is such a key area to always contribute to as it helps with website optimisation your position in organic search engine results pages (SERPs).  

Video content towards the top of the page is also an engaging way to keep a visitor on your site. But again, the content is key and needs to be focussed to your audience.  

Read our blog about creating an online persona for your business as this will help you with tailoring content specifically for your audience. 

2. Ease of navigation  

Once you get people to your website, it needs to be a smooth journey for them to move from page to page. Having a website that is easy to navigate will help people stay on your website for longer and give more chance of a sale.  

Have a look at your website and check the menu and homepage, are you covering the questions that your target audience will ask? Is it easy for them to find contact details and get in touch with you?  Is your menu offering the right options and is it clear? 

Ensure you have bold call to actions and white space that can lead the visitor simply around the page – avoid too much clutter.  

If you’ve written a blog add in internal links to relevant pages that can help further guide a visitor to other pages of interest.  

3. Be mobile responsive 

Globally 52% of web traffic comes from a mobile. This will only increase as the world conducts more transactions online and uses search on their mobile. If your website isn’t already mobile friendly, then now is the time to look for a new website design. If you are already mobile friendly, then always check how updates look on your mobile. As you constantly add blogs, new call to actions of pop up boxes, taking a quick look to that it functions correctly will help the user experience and prevent people from moving quickly from your website.   

Website designer Croydon  

Smart Cow is a web design company in Croydon. We build bespoke websites for accountants and local businesses which are search engine optimised. We offer a free website audit which can highlight areas that need improvement and guide you on what to update.  

We also provide a suite of digital marketing services including social media management, PPC, email marketing and ongoing SEO. Book a free consultation to discuss our website design services and online marketing.

Business ruler

Attract the right online enquiry to convert leads

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Maintaining good quality leads through your website is key to business growth. For a professional services firm, such as accounting, this is vital to continue business through the current COVID-19 situation and ongoing service to your existing clients.

But to get quality leads to your sales funnel in the first place is the trick. So, here we give a little overview of some of the digital marketing tactics you can employ to help with online lead generation. 

Download The Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing to help you create your inbound marketing strategy to attract quality leads. Read on for a quick summary to get you started.

Quality content 

You’ll be hearing quality quite a lot from us. If you want quality leads then you need to attract clients with quality, tailored content.  

During this time of uncertainty, your content needs to be offering advice to your clients. Keep them informed of legislation, company changes and support through your blog, email marketing, social media channels and webinars.  

Email marketing  

Whilst you may feel that new business is not happening right now, maintaining presence is vital to be certain you will be remembered in the coming weeks when society picks up its pace to the next stage of ‘normal’. 

So, if you don’t already have a newsletter sign up box on the homepage of your website then add that. Capture email addresses and keep in touch with these people who have opted in with regular email marketing campaigns. They clearly want to hear from you so make the most of it.  

Just remember to be GDPR compliant and ensure that you tell people what they are signing up to and make it easy for them to opt out of communication.   

Get quality leads in your sales funnel  

But what should you do to attract the right type of enquiry? 

Make sure you have created a positioning statement about your company, your goals and target audience.  

Create an online persona of your target audience. This simple document will give background to a typical client of yours and provide answers to their challenges.  

Through targeted and relevant content you attract your audience to your website through blogs, optimised website (SEO), social media marketing and Pay Per Click (PPC) ads. It’s worth noting that 89% of online consumers use search engines when making a purchase decision. 

Once a visitor reaches your website, it’s about engaging with your target audience. From the initial landing page with bold calls to action or forms to download ebooks. To close the deal, it’s again about relevant emails and nurturing contacts through a well-managed CRM system.  

Reviews 

Once you have secured a contract with your new client, asking for a testimonial to add to your website or to your Google My Business page can help with gaining further quality leads. With 88% of consumers having read reviews to determine the quality of a local business, it makes sense to add this action into your marketing plan. 

Smart Cow is a digital marketing agency in Croydon. Whether you’re looking for a complete digital marketing strategy or standalone PPC campaign with Google adwords management book a free consultation and we can discuss our marketing services with you.

Digital marketing Croydon resources 

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