The Web Bureau Do the Biz! (Part 2: SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Nichola Bates, event organiser and owner of online marketing business Grow Sales Online focused on Search Engine Optimisation and tackled the issues of your domain name and hosting.

Resonating with Niall’s advice that you need to know your customer, Nichola explained that if you are targeting an NI/UK market with your services and want to get a high page rank within the search engines, it is important to have a .co.uk domain hosted on a server in the UK, similarly if you also target the ROI market you may need to replicate your site on a .ie domain, hosted within the Republic of Ireland or a .com domain if you sell your products or services internationally.

Getting down to the nitty gritty of your site content, Nichola highlighted the importance of getting your ‘title tags’ and ‘meta descriptions’ right and being able to access your website to update these regularly to keep your content relevant and up to date.

Producing good content and regular content was a recurring theme in both Nichola’s presentation and many other presentations of the day which reflects its importance within any marketing project, online or offline. Nichola advised delegates that sometimes the best way to get good quality links to your site is just to be really good at what you do! Getting inbound links to your site is a key aspect of SEO. If for example, you win an award and get a write-up in the Belfast Telegraph online with a link back to your site, this can add huge value to your SEO efforts!

Another vital point raised in terms of any SEO project is to be aware before you embark on it that it does not have an end date!  An SEO project is always a ‘live’ project and if you are serious about being visible to your target markets and growing your sales online, you will need to devote time on a regular basis to monitoring your online position and that of your competitors, as any positive action on their part can have a negative impact on your page rank!

P.S. if the terms ‘seo’, page rank, domains and so on mean nothing to you don’t panic, our team of web designers and online marketing consultants will be able to advise you.

For further advice on developing an SEO strategy for your business contact us on info@thewebbureau.com