Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
ShowMe does the basic once-off onsite optimisation of your website to help it compete on the internet, in order that your website can be found by Google and other search engines for searches on the service you provide or the products that you sell.
This onsite search engine optimization involves the placement of keywords in:
Page titles and ‘meta data’ (‘meta’ title, ‘meta’ description, ‘meta’ keywords) which is only visible to search engines and tells the search engines what your website and web-pages are about.
Copy – the content of your website, including headings, navigation bar, main copy text and images (alt text).
We do not offer further optimization which would involve ‘off-site’ optimization such as directory submissions, getting links, etc. Should you wish to obtain these services, you would need to consult a search engine optimization professional or firm.
The onsite SEO we offer is ‘foundation’ SEO. It is basic but necessary for your website to come up (be ‘returned’ in search results) on Google.
There is no guarantee that the onsite SEO we do will make your website competitive for searches on your main keywords – there are simply too many other factors over which we have no control that can influence a sites performance.
These include:
- Competition: how many other websites offer the same or similar service and are competing to be found for searches on the same keywords.
- Longevity: how long your website has been on the internet
- Traffic: how much traffic your website gets (a bit of a catch 22 if you don’t market your website)
- User behaviour: If 100 people click on your website per month, and out of those 100 people 90 stay on it, browse through it and then click on the contact page/form, over time (see longevity above), your website will end up being returned closer to page one in search results than your competitor’s website where only 30% of site visitors stay on the site to go as far as the contact page/form. Google can track this behavior and uses it as criteria by which to evaluate the quality of your website and the service/product you are offering.
- Linking: Google and other search engines see ‘links’ from other websites as ‘yes votes’ for a websites’ content. If you have good content, you may get other people linking to you from their own websites and blogs. Search engines see this, and websites with ‘yes votes’ in the form of incoming links tend to do better in search results. You can try to get people to link to you yourself, or hire a search engine optimization firm to do this for you…or you can simply wait for other people to link to your website over time. The type of service or product you offer will influence how many links you get, however. Blogs and websites that offer high quality information about things tend to get more links in general than a website selling a product. You can get links from directories, but you may have to pay for those.
- Copy Duplication & Plagiarism: Search engines can see text that is taken from another website. This text has been indexed by them before. It is in your best interests to supply us with copy that is both unique and of a high quality. We recommend using a web copy writer to write your content if you are unable to provide it yourself, and we strongly recommend that any copy provided is your own and has not been ‘lifted’ from another website, even in part.
The onsite SEO we offer can have a profound impact and even get your website on to page one in search results in a few weeks if:
- There is relatively low competition for the product or service you offer in your area
- Your content is unique, well written and engaging
- The product or service you offer is good
- Site visitors are encouraged to browse, to click on photos, to browse to the contact page
Please note: In cases where there is very high competition, you can also focus your website’s content and onsite SEO to a unique aspect of your business that your competitors don’t offer or that only some do. For example, if you offer beauty products, and there are 20 other websites also offering beauty products, rather concentrate your efforts on a particular beauty product or range that people might search for. It’s better to get found by 10 people who will buy your product than get nowhere trying to attract 1000 people strictly through internet search.
Google Adwords:
If you wish to attract traffic to your website in the short term, you might do well to invest in Google Adwords. Your ad is displayed on Google’s advertising network and you pay only if people click on your ads. Google Adwords are keyword related so your ads display when people are already looking for you.
Your Google Adwords campaign is setup by a professional and you get automated weekly reports.
Please contact us should you wish to explore this option.
Facebook:
Share your content on Facebook – let people see you. Market your website online and offline – ‘in the real world’. The more traffic your site gets, the better it will do in the long term in searches. Don’t sit back and rely on people to just ‘find’ your website.