Search Engine Placement is just the beginning

Posted on September 17 2009 by admin

Many Business Owners come to me with aspirations of higher traffic levels for their website. It seems to be that the importance of high search engine placement, and enjoying improved numbers of daily visitors, is finally hitting home with those wishing to grow their business beyond their current position.

But does more traffic equal more sales? Well, the simple answer is … Sometimes! The fact is that there are a number of other, often overlooked factors, driving the success of your online targets and goals. Let’s revisit the old question, often asked by SEO professionals to their prospective clients:

What do you want your website to do for you? For any business owner, the answer should be one of the following…

1) To sell something

2) To initiate contact from your next customer

3) To obtain the contact details of your next customer (great for that initial contact, but also for email marketing campaigns and the like)

So what are the factors that affect a website’s ability to achieve one or all of these goals?

Keyword research and search relevance

To gain high search engine placement, you need a keyword to rank for! Every SEO and his dog will begin their projects with a thorough phase of Keyword Research, but how many of them consider the relelvance to what a client’s product or service is or to the stage in the decision-making process the customer is at.

Getting higher conversions is about attracting the right customer, at the right time, with the right product or service. Match all these things through the relevance of a keyword to the site content, and you should bring down bounce rates, keeping visitors on your site for longer.

First impressions

Content isn’t the only thing that will keep a visitor browsing your site. Without good design, easy on the eye and engaging throughout, those visitors will bounce out and find a competitor that’s taken more time over their page layout. Use a standardised design throughout your site, use colours that don’t offend, and use well-chosen photographs and imagery to enhance the appeal.

Navigation and Usability

People need to be able to find their way around easily. Consider the “above the fold” area – that which is visible without scrolling down in the browser window. Ensure you have all the navigation readily available to the visitor, and that links are descriptive about the destination page.

Calls to action, and making “converting” easy

Lastly, load your pages with calls to action, contact details (great for local search, too), and links to your latest promotions. Split and multi-variate testing is a great way to gauge the best placement of all these things, for the greatest reward. Make it easy for people to buy from you, keeping the number of steps to purchase or contact you to a minimum. Back all this up with good analytics, so you can track where your customers came from, and the route they took to purchase.

Next time you speak to an SEO professional about your latest project, think beyond search engine placement, and ask them about the bigger picture. Consider conversions over traffic, and you’re starting on the right track.

(ArticlesBase ID #1238121)

Matt Hodkinson is Owner and Principal Consultant at Your SEO Consultant. With over 6 years experience in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media and Online Marketing, Matt is one of the leading experts on search engine placement in the UK, bringing new levels of business and revenue to his loyal client base.

Matt resides in Surrey, England, with his Wife and young Daughter.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/search-engine-placement-is-just-the-beginning-1238121.html

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