7 Questions Ethical Businesses Should Ask Before Hiring An SEO Agency

7 Questions Ethical Businesses Should Ask Before Hiring An SEO Agency

Hiring a search agency is a big commitment, that’s for sure. Some people will tell you it’s a complicated process and there are risks involved - but if you ask the right questions, and look out for the red flags, it doesn’t have to be all that scary.

The next 7 questions will help you navigate the world of SEO agencies, consultants and freelancers. Make sure you aren’t bamboozled by smoke and mirrors and get you the results your purpose-led business deserves.

Are you ready? Let’s Go…

1. Do Our Values Match?

If your purpose of being is for the planet and its people, rather than making money from it then you need to work with an Agency who live and breathe those same values. By being on the same page the sum of parts will be a far more powerful thing.

There can be a lot of bluster out there which can leave you wondering - are they who they really say they are? Check out their client roster, social media, and the things they do outside of working with clients to see if you really align.

2. What Do You Do Exactly?

In other words, what’s your process and methodology for SEO?

Competent search specialists will not only have a clear process to follow, but they will also be able to explain it to you in clear terms. The overuse of jargon and buzzwords is an immediate red flag, as genuinely skilled SEO practitioners should be able to educate you on their methodology and empower you to understand how your business is performing on a deeper level.

This is also your chance to step away and sensor check their methodologies to ensure the way they work is up to date and ethical practice.

3. How Customised Will the SEO Service Be?

The thing is, there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to search marketing. Any impactful SEO agency should take a good amount of time upfront to understand your business goals and collaborate with you to plan their search strategy.

Take notice of how many questions an agency is asking about your business, what your goals are, what does the team look like, what are you doing really well, what do you wish you could do better, who are you competing against and so the list continues.

The more questions they ask - the more invested they are in your success, and it means they are thinking strategically.

4. Who Else Thinks You’re Great At What You Do?

If they’re smart, the agency will be shouting about the amazing results they’ve achieved with clients. Checking out case studies on the agencies website and google reviews is a good place to start, if you can’t find anything here, you guessed it, red flag!

Don’t be afraid to ask for specifics. Say you’re a green tech company or a local community scheme, ask who the SEO agency have worked with previously that align with your purpose or goals, find out exactly what results they delivered and how.

Whilst direct experience isn’t essential, alignment in values is super powerful when it comes to working with any type of digital marketing agency.

5. How Do We Know Our SEO Is Working?

It’s really important you know whether the efforts of your chosen agency are actually working. Sure, seeing green figures where search rankings have improved looks good, but is that what you wanted to get out of your SEO investment? How has it contributed to moving the dial towards your goals?

Now think, do you want to increase sales, onboard volunteers or maybe share more resources? If you have to ask how the agency plan to connect the dots and report on how their actions have directly impacted your businesses metrics then say thank you very much and go find another.

6. Are We Going To Get Along?

In our experience, having a friendly and authentic relationship with our clients makes a world of difference to the results we see. Communication becomes effortless and we find getting to know each other beyond the metrics boosts motivation all around (it’s also just nice to get to know you).

As a purpose-led business, it’s worthwhile asking to be introduced to the team you’ll be in contact with and getting a feel for how you will work together.

For example, when working on SEO with Creative Bloom, you would meet:

Stu & Ollie

7. Why Would You Want To Work With Us?

We know that ethical businesses and non-profit organisations care immensely about what they do, who they serve and the causes they’re championing. The SEO agency you choose to work with should be just as passionate about helping you have the biggest impact possible.

Ask, what about your own company makes you an ideal client for the agency? What excites them and what potential can they see in your relationship.

Bringing It All Together

By enquiring into these 6 areas, keeping a discerning eye out for red flags and connecting over a common cause, you’re likely to have a great relationship with your chosen SEO agency and see amazing results.

We’re an ethically driven digital agency specialising in marketing strategy, SEO, PPC and digital marketing training. If you want to put these questions to the test and see if we’re a good fit, why not book a consultation?

Why Are Keywords So Important to SEO?

Why Are Keywords So Important to SEO?

What is a Keyword in Digital Marketing?

A keyword refers to a group of words that are used by a user to search for a product or service that they need in search engines. 

Having these keywords in the right places on your website means you can show up in search results when these keywords are searched.

If your website says “Pet Supplies in Brighton” and someone searches for that keyword, you can show up in the search results.

Why are Keywords Important for Digital Marketing?

A keyword’s job is to connect information you provide with the person searching for that information - they’re the tether between you and your customers.

Every time someone searches for your brand the keyword they search is linked to the keyword on your website; without them, you can’t be found.

You likely already have keywords on your website, but by placing them purposefully in H1s and H2s you turn them into a strategy - and remember, there’s a difference between your website being “keyword rich” and “keyword stuffed,” if you use too many keywords close to each other, Google can lower your ranking.

Knowing all that, it’s time to go over exactly HOW you turn keywords into a strategy, and the different kinds of keywords you need to be aware of.

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How Keywords and User Journey Connect:

What is A User Journey?

Put yourself in the shoes of your customer; when you’re looking for a product or service, you go through different stages before deciding which to purchase. 

The stages are:
Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, and Retention.

(We’ll go into more detail on them later on, don’t worry!)

Depending on what you’re trying to achieve and where your audience is on their journey relevant to that, the keywords you use can change entirely.

It’s best to have your user journey in mind when thinking about the keywords you want to rank for and include on your website.

Targeting Audiences with Keywords

If you know your audience and the journey they go through before making a purchase from you, you can reach them at multiple points on that journey, making them more likely to choose you over competitors. 

Your audience may have a segment of 25-35 year old women on a good income who own cats; knowing that you can think about what kind of searches they would make at different stages of their journey, and target them directly.

For example, someone searching for “cat collars” isn’t looking for a specific brand, they’re just trying to see what kind of collars are available to purchase - they are at the “awareness” stage. Now is your chance to attract them and make your brand stand out among others, and if you know what segment of your audience you’re targeting, you can use keywords that are relevant specifically to them.

Explicit vs Implicit Searcher Intent:

An “Explicit Searcher” is looking for up to date, relevant information, has specific concerns and specific searches, and is likely about to make a purchasing decision - they know what they want to find. 

These searchers are at the consideration/conversion stage of the user journey, they know what they want to find and mostly know where to go to purchase that product or service already.

An example of explicit search intent is: “Breakaway cat collar for kittens.”

The searcher is looking for a specific product, but they are still deciding where to purchase that from.

An “Implicit Searcher” doesn’t really know what they’re looking for. They’re getting a feel for the market and the brands within it, but aren’t about to make a purchase yet. 

These searchers are at the awareness stage of the user journey, simply investigating options and deciding whether a purchase is necessary or not. 

An example of implicit search intent is: “do I need a breakaway collar for my cat?” 

The searcher is simply investigating a topic, but may still make a purchase once they’ve done more research.

Implicit and explicit searcher intent can be determined by a lot of variables, including the location and device they’re searching from, and the same search can change between the two depending on those variables - that’s why it’s important to know your user journey ahead of time.

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What Kind of Keywords Can You Use in Digital Marketing?

Primary and Secondary Keywords

Primary keywords can also be referred to as focus or target keywords - these are the most important keywords for your website that describe your business, products or services.

Secondary keywords can also be referred to as tertiary or supporting keywords - these include all other keywords that you’re targeting.

For example, a primary keyword could be “cat collar,” and secondary keywords that associate with that could be “green,” “safety,” or “bell.”

Branded and Unbranded Keywords

Branded keywords, shockingly, include your brand name in the search. It can also include misspellings, branded acronyms, or even campaign taglines if that’s something relevant to you.

For example, “Pets At Home” is a branded keyword.

Unbranded keywords pretty much include everything else - like a problem the customer is facing, or a business service or offer.

For example, “cat supplies” is an unbranded keyword.

User Journey Phase Keywords

These keywords target customers at pivotal points in the user journey, and can make the difference between a lead turning into a conversion or not - these are really important, as they create a funnel that you can track and adjust as you go.

They may be action orientated, like providing extra information or expert content that builds awareness and trust between your business and a user, or they may simply be placed in copy on pages with relevant products or services.

To connect these to the user journey, let’s look at some examples:

Awareness: “What’s the difference between a normal cat collar and a breakaway collar?”

Consideration: “Do I need a breakaway collar?” or “breakaway cat collar reviews.”

Conversion: “Breakaway cat collar with bell.”

Retention: “Pets At Home cat collars.”

Global and Local Keywords

A local search term can mean that either the searcher is looking for something in their immediate area, like “pet supplies store near me,” or that they are likely to visit a specific location, like “pet supplies store Brighton.” 

Global keywords refer to any keywords with no location attached, like “pet supplies store.”

Local keywords are incredibly important if you run a business with a physical location or that operates in a specific geographic region - they help you reach customers who can actually use your services. They can help you appear on the Map Pack on Google, and make you more likely to appear on a search results page than a large franchised corporation; that’s something you want to take advantage of!

Seed and Page-Specific Keywords

Seed keywords are the basic batch of keywords that you start with. 

You can come up with these yourself based off of user journey, or use something like Google Keyword Planner to find them. These keywords branch off and allow you to find other, more specific keywords later down the line.

Page-Specific keywords are more drilled down and niche; they’re relevant to an individual page of your website, but wouldn’t necessarily describe your website as a whole. You’ll likely have a few of these to start with, and then you’ll find more throughout your research and by using seed keywords.

An example of a seed keyword: “pet supplies store.”
A page-specific example: “cat collars,” “dog collars,” or “pet beds.”

Head and Long-Tail Keywords

The easiest way to remember these names is that a head keyword will have high search volumes, and long-tail keywords have low search volumes.

The names actually come from the shape of the graph, with a small number of high searches and a huge number of low searches - thinking about these graphs might be intimidating, but the more you use and research keywords the more used to them you get.

The majority of searches are considered “long-tail,” due to how many new searches are made on Google everyday. You’re more likely to be the first person to search for something than you think!

Head keywords come with high search volumes which means lots of eyes, but it also means lots of competition and less clear intent - aiming for the right long-tail keywords can get you far more conversions even though it’s reaching fewer people. 

The more specific a search, the more specific it’s intent, the easier it is to create content that’s exactly what they’re searching for.

For example, someone searching “pets” could be looking for a bunch of different things, so aiming your keywords to rank for that isn’t a great idea, even without the enormous competition. Trying to rank for “where can I buy cat collars?” may seem really specific, but in reality your pet supply store is answering that long-tail search far more accurately.

Application

To get an idea of the best way to apply the different keywords, take a look at our On-Page SEO Guide.

Otherwise, we’ve covered it all! You should now have a better understanding of how keywords affect SEO and how to use them to your advantage.

If you’re still struggling to get your head around it all, why not reach out for a consultation?

Why Audits are Your Best Friend When it Comes to Digital Marketing

Why Audits are Your Best Friend When it Comes to Digital Marketing

Over time, websites lose their structure, pages are left on Google that perhaps shouldn’t be, huge images are posted all over the place, and mobile UX always seems to suffer. When your website drives new business, it’s vital that a health check is performed - otherwise it can tangle pretty quickly.

This guide will cover all the different types of Digital Marketing Audit and what makes them valuable, so you can make the best decision for you and your business and set the best building blocks for you to push your website faster and further.

The Creative Bloom Full Website Audit

We Bloomers take a ‘no stone left untouched’ approach when it comes to our digital marketing audits. Good Marketing Strategy comes from Good Diagnosis and and insightful diagnosis will show us the challenges and opportunities to forge ahead in our marketing.

We’ll look at everything from measuring your digital footprint, full channlel anlaytics & performance, website technical checks, speed and mobile optimisation, SEO, and User Experience in our comprehensive review. 

Why does that matter? It means you can create a clear actionable plan of what to tackle and when, getting you more our of you digital marketing efforts and budgets

You’ll take away a step by step action list of all the areas we’ve flagged that require improvements or immediate attention. We’ll go through it all point by point, no jargon, so that you walk away feeling empowered instead of overwhelmed.

What is the Value in a Content Audit?

The point of a content audit is to work out whether you’re making content that’s actually valuable in terms of SEO.

The content you post to your website shouldn’t just be there to promote your business’ values or show off your success stories; it should also be answering questions that potential customers are asking, helping you reach them at multiple points along their customer journey.

A content audit can show you where you have gaps in your content that could provide you with more traffic and help you reach new audiences - meaning people are more likely to consider your brand and compare you against your competitors, as well as giving you a list of content ideas that you don’t have to come up with yourself, which is a win allround.

Do I Need a Social Media Audit?

Social Media Audits help you understand whether you’re driving traffic from your socials to your website, and whether those leads result in conversions over time.

It also points out where you have gaps in your social content and helps you understand whether your brand values are translating in the way that you’re expecting.

Sometimes the values and content you think are worth promoting on social media aren’t really reaching the audience you’re trying to target once you look at the data; a Social Media Audit can help you identify content that will set you apart from your competitors, and speak to both the audience you have established and new customers that find you online.

Similarly to a Content Audit, a Social Media Audit will often result in a list of content you can create without having to sit and think about it yourself, which gives you more time and energy to make that content as high quality as possible.

What does a Website Audit Include?

A Website Audit covers all the backend bits that we often don’t like to think about, but that are really important for rankings; we’re talking speed, mobile optimisation, links (both internal and external), images, website structure issues and all the rest. Websites can bloat over time, and search engines and users can start having a hard time working out what’s what.

The biggest value in having a Website Audit conducted is that it can be a time consuming process to do yourself, you may not have access to the paid tools required, as well as being quite technical. Keeping an eye on your website health is something that needs doing regularly, so having someone else just tell you what needs fixing makes it a lot easier to handle.

What is an SEO Audit?

SEO Audits are essentially the backbone to an effective search marketing strategy. 

An SEO Audit is the best way to measure your organic search rankings, assess the opportunity in your search environment and create a plan on how to improve them.

It will cover the keywords you’re hitting successfully, the keywords you aren’t hitting, and the keywords you didn’t even know about - meaning you can go on to apply those keywords to all the other aspects of your digital marketing. It will assess you against the other ranking factors too to see how you stack up against them, and most importantly against your competition.

A good SEO Audit will sift through all the data you’re collecting to identify any issues affecting your organic search performance, showing where you need to improve your strategy overall - what people search for changes constantly, there is a technical element too and your action plans need to reflect that.

What Do You Do After an Audit?

Well, that part is up to you! 

As we said Good Strategy comes from Good Diagnosis, a good audit will show you what’s going on and how to navigate forwards, so the best thing you can do is take the information and recommendations from an audit and put into short term, medium & long term action plans - particularly if there are glaring issues with your website or SEO.

If you’re the type who focuses more on creation than implementation, there are plenty of Digital Marketing agencies who can help you put in place and deliver against those actions plans - these types of agencies are perfect if you don’t want to do the heavy lifting yourself.

Whether you end up making the changes or an agency does, it’s important to keep measuring our performance  and check if the changes you’ve implemented are having the results you were expecting - you should never see a decline in rankings after taking action from a Digital Marketing Audit.

And with that, we’ve covered it all!

Dreaming of your own audit after going through it all?

Reach out today to arrange an audit of whatever it is you need.

10 Things Small Businesses NEED TO KNOW Before Creating a New Website

10 Things Small Businesses NEED TO KNOW Before Creating a New Website

When you’re searching for someone to build a new website for your business, what do you need to be looking for? And where do you need to look? We’ve spoken to hundreds of businesses who often have problems with their new websites that we believe could have been avoided - so here’s a list of 10 things you must think about if you’re planning on building a new website.

1. Use the Right Website Developer.

A website doesn’t need to just be beautiful, it needs to be functional. 

Some website developers are extremely good at what they do, but aren’t necessarily designers. Similarly, you may find a graphic designer who has a talent for website design, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the website will function well. 

Google needs to be able to read your website and understand the way it’s functioning; this involves everything from navigation to the content of the pages themselves. The site needs to make sense to the people who click on it, and if it doesn’t, Google won’t show it to people at all. If you’re not appearing on a search engine what’s the point in having a beautiful website in the first place?

Giving power over such an important aspect of your business to someone you don’t know well can be intimidating, but it’s worth it in the long run as long as the person is reputable and has experience, or has been referred by others. Finding examples of websites you like and even making a mockup of your ideas yourself can make it easier for a developer to execute your vision.

If you think you’re ready to hire a website developer and want more details on how to do it right, there’s an article here which can help you hire the right person for your needs.

2. Use the right website CMS / Platform

Wordpress, Wix, and Squarespace are some of the more well known platforms for website building. There are positives and negatives about all of these services, and although on the surface they may seem similar, some of the smallest differences can have the most impact.

If you’ve already hired a website developer, this is a conversation you can potentially have with them. It’s important to consider features for SEO, blogs, photos - and, if you’re selling online you’ll want to be thinking about e-commerce. 

For example, Shopify is known to have great e-commerce features, but their SEO features are still not quite there yet. Wordpress is well known for its flexibility and often familiar to the majority of developers. Of course, there are also platforms (like Squarespace) that sit somewhat in the middle.

 It’s important to know what purpose your website needs to serve, so that the platform you choose can do the hard work for you.

We strongly encourage you to make a list of important features for your website, and then do some research to work out which platform will best suit your needs.

3. Make Sure you can Edit your Own Website!

Being able to edit your own website is critical, especially for small businesses. Many of our clients have mentioned that they have to contact their website developer simply to change a heading or image, taking time...and unfortunately £££.

This, especially for small businesses, is not sustainable, and in the long run incurs big costs which can easily be avoided - if you’re paying for a car to be built, you expect to get the keys afterwards! 

Being able to quickly log in to your chosen platform, edit a little text and add an image, means mistakes can be fixed and updates can be made on your terms; you can upload new products and blogs to your site without having to go through another person, meaning greater control over your launches. 

If you’re not particularly adept with technology, this is something to consider when you choose your website’s platform.

Many services have easy to use drag and drop systems, and are more user friendly than others; you can also have your website developer talk through the process with you so that you feel confident making edits yourself. We believe every website build should finish with a comprehensive hand-over, so don’t forget to tell your developer, that’s what you expect in the end.

4. Ensure your Design Works Well for New Customers

A quirky design might look great, but if it’s not easy to navigate, customers might not spend long looking at it or they may just become confused and lost in your online, unintentional maze.

You want a customer to know who you are and what you do from the moment they load the page. From there, it needs to be easy to get to the information they need, as well as to reach out to you personally. As stated before, contact forms are a key part of your website - it’s important for people to know that there is a real person behind your company who will respond to them.

5. SEO: Give Google the Best Chance of Understanding your Content

Google trawls your website and looks at it one page at a time. 

To make sure Google can clearly understand what you do, you should dedicate a page to each service you offer; bunching all your content on to one page will just confuse the algorithm and lead to you not ranking so highly.

It’s important to try and tailor the keywords on each page to the service you’re referencing, which should naturally happen if you have a page for each service. There will always be a few similar keywords appearing on different pages around your website of course, but do your best to optimise as best you can - work your content and optimise each page individually!

We have a blog that goes over on-page SEO in more detail if you want to learn more.

6. Research what Type of Content your Competitors Have

If you are aware of competitors who are ranking particularly well (and you should be!) then looking at the way their site is structured can give you a head start.

For example, healthcare websites often have far more text than they do videos or images they will often describe in detail and long-form paragraphs, specific topics as well as having bullet points to outline their services. It’s important to know what customers and Google are expecting to see from a brand in your sector when they land on your website - customers are likely to be comparing multiple businesses, and you want yours to be a front runner.

You can also look at the way competitors have approached their site navigation. The likelihood is that they’re ranking well because Google can read their site easily as well as having relevant, high quality content, so if you can structure your website in a similar way, Google will hopefully favour your website too!

7. Mobile Optimisation

People do a lot of internet browsing on their mobiles - you want to make sure your website looks just as good when a customer loads it on mobile as it does on a desktop.

Not all platforms will automatically optimise for mobile browsing, so that’s another point to consider when deciding on a platform to use. Make sure that you’re checking your website on your phone yourself, and decide if you would be able to easily navigate around the site. If not - make changes!

If you need more information, you can find 6 tips to help you nail mobile optimisation here.

8. Use REAL content, not duplicated text or stock images. 

Authenticity is key. Not only is Google constantly looking out for what could be copied content or dodgy businesses, but so are customers. Google will eliminate anything it deems to be a scam or spammy from searches because they know customers won’t respond well. 

For example, the web pages that reference your services should only include authentic images and content - this doesn’t just help your SEO, but also helps establish credibility with customers. Most people can spot a stock image a mile away, and you don’t want them to associate laziness or lack or transparency with your services.

On blog pages the occasional royalty free stock image is acceptable, especially to break up text, but the actual content of the blog should be original; definitely not copied from other websites!

9. Reporting: Install Google Analytics for Free!

Whatever you do, you need to be able to measure the impact of it. Being able to see the way customers choose to navigate your site gives you the ability to optimise it even further, as well as remove any unnecessary pages that customers never click on. 

Understanding the way traffic flows through your site and being able to measure your conversions is crucial - Google Analytics is a free service, and considering it offers so much to your digital marketing strategy, there’s no reason not to get it!

We highly recommend that you take a course on how to use Google Analytics, or at least do some further reading on what it can offer you. 

10. Test, Double-Check and Triple Check your Website Works

Once you’re happy with the way everything is looking, it’s time to get testing.

Try filling out your contact forms, check your pages to make sure that no drafts have gone live, make sure your navigation works properly, and ensure that no links result in a 404 error. 

Services like Screaming Frog can trawl your website for you and show you a map of how your website functions, as well as making any errors on the site obvious to you.

Building a website is a huge step for a business - hopefully you now feel a little more equipped to get started! 

If you have any remaining questions or queries or think you’d like help overseeing your new website build - get in touch with us and we’ll make sure you’re making the right decisions for your business.

Mobile SEO: 6 Tips To Optimise Your Site

We all know that Google looks at a range of different areas to assess a site’s SEO; but did you know that Mobile Optimisation is a key factor in where you rank?

Converting clicks into customers isn’t easy at the best of times. In the first quarter of 2016, the global conversion rate on desktop was 3.63% - but on mobiles it was only 1.25%.

Not only has global phone usage increased a great deal since 2016, but the amount of time customers spend browsing has dramatically increased as well, typically spending double the amount of time browsing their phones instead of desktops.

Considering all of this, it’s easy to see why Google has decided to make Mobile Optimisation a significant ranking factor. Nobody wants the first result they click on Google to leave them having to squint at tiny text and scroll endlessly to find a button to follow; depending on the website hosting service you use, it might be easier to get your Mobile SEO sorted than you think.

Tips and Tricks

Use Structured Data

When your data is structured, Google can access the information on your site more easily, and when done well it can greatly improve your chances of getting clicks through from search results. A commonly used service is Schema.org - remembering that people spend twice as much time browsing on mobile as they do on desktop, ensuring that your mobile site has structured data is critical. 

When Google can access your data, it allows them to implement more information around your search result. Structured data itself is a huge topic that we could cover in it’s own blog, but below is an example of the ways Google can take advantage of your structured data and make your site a richer search result than your competitors.

Used Compressed Images

If you’re using huge images with large file sizes, it can cause loading delays or fill your customer’s entire screen with the image. This is particularly important when it comes to things like product photos.

Using a responsive design and regularly checking your site on mobile devices as you go through the design process can help you avoid this issue, but if you’re deciding to use an entirely different site for mobile, service such as Smush Images or tinypng can help you ensure your images aren’t affecting your website’s Mobile Optimisation.

Avoid Non-Mobile Friendly Features

On a similar note to compressing your images, ensuring that the design of your website doesn't include features that make it harder to browse your website on mobile is important. 

The most common example is a sidebar; it may look good and be functional on a desktop, but on mobile it can widen the screen and force the user to pinch and scroll around to find the information they’re looking for. It’s best to avoid making the customer work harder than necessary when trying to create conversions. 

Responsive Design

Of course, a way to avoid having to worry so much about the previous two bullet points is to implement a responsive site design. Responsive design allows your website to adjust to the device it’s being viewed on. Depending on where you design and host your website, you may have a responsive design built in. 

For example, Squarespace gives you the option to view your design from the perspective of multiple devices as you build your site. This means you can check the sizes of buttons, images, side bars, and a range of other elements that may not translate well onto a smaller screen; and we highly recommend you do! Even if you aren’t on a site builder such as Squarespace, it’s worth having your phone next to you so you can view your website yourself and check how everything looks.

You may even want to look at installing an AMP if you want your site to translate smoothly onto mobile.

Use More Video

Mobiles naturally have a smaller space to display images on. Including multiple images on a page can start to look messy quickly, and even when features such as carousels you may find people rarely click through to view all the images.

This is particularly important when offering a service as opposed to a product; having multiple images of your Personal Training sessions may have less effect than simply compiling multiple clips of you actually working with your clients into a sleek video. You can translate the personality of your business into video much more quickly than with images.

Streamline your Check Out

Cart abandonment is a common problem, causing a loss of between 55-80% of potential purchases.

Allowing customers to check out as a guest and streamlining the checkout process can increase the likelihood a customer completes their purchase. You might not get the customer to sign up to your email marketing, but a customer who has actually purchased and received your product is far more likely to return and purchase again than one who never purchased in the first place. They’re also then able to leave reviews, which can be critical to encouraging future purchases from other customers. 

A lot of people may browse and add to basket in order to compile the items they like without the intention of purchasing - the less obstacles between the customer and actually checking out, the more likely they are to actually make the purchase without overthinking and closing the page.

Google is constantly updating the way they rank and the things they assess for SEO. Implementing the road signs that Google looks for, as well as setting up your site to maximise your conversion, will increase your revenue and set your business up for success.

If you ever need help getting your head around Digital Marketing, we run free Digital Clinics as well as Online Training courses, which can give you the knowledge and confidence to take control of your online presence.

NAP Consistency: What is it and Why does it Matter?

NAP Consistency: What is it and Why does it Matter?

NAP stands for: Name, Address, and Phone Number.

As a business owner, keeping these 3 things consistent  and easy to find for users and for Google can reinforce trust in your brand and website , even if they’ve never heard of your business before.

Why does NAP Matter?

Customers: NAP can make the difference between a customer choosing to stop by the store or giving it a miss; if they can’t find an address to go to or a number to call, they might decide to go with a competitor instead.

Google Ranking: if you haven’t updated old addresses, new phone numbers or name changes, you’re making it much harder for Google to understand, who you are, where you are and how someone can get in touch.

Therefore NAP consistency is pretty important!

NAP and SEO

NAP is a Top 5 Ranking Factor, meaning if you want to rank with the big names, NAP consistency is a must. Bright Local conducted a study into NAP consistency, finding that Businesses in the top spot usually have around 81 NAP citations, but the 10th spot often have 75 - so every citation counts! If Google can determine your business is reliable by finding multiple sources corroborating the same information, your rank improves; NAP is one of the easiest ways to do this.

When you start looking into it, you might find that you already have a lot of NAP citations for Google to read. Simply adding an address and phone number to a Facebook Business page creates a citation for Google to grab; it’s the consistency that’s key.

Because NAP builds over time without you noticing, it’s easy for consistency to waver over time, especially when link building and putting that trust into someone else's hands.

How to Improve NAP

• If you’re changing a phone number or address, make sure you change it everywhere.

• Double check for duplicate listings, otherwise Google doesn’t know which listing to rely on.

• Set up a Google My Business Page and keep it updated; we’ll be talking about Google My Business more in a future Blog.

• Audit all your business listings and update them if necessary. You may have signed up for a network a while ago and forgotten about it, but it’ll still be impacting your NAP consistency.

• Double check your Social Media listings. Sometimes your address and phone number aren’t even available publicly on your social media pages, but Google can still read them.

• Lastly, if you’re just starting a new business and deciding on your business name address and phone number - decide on one of each and STICK TO IT!

We hope that our guide will help you to demystify some of your NAP questions and queries. Running a small business can be overwhelming; there’s a lot of jargon and way too many things to think about.

That’s why we run Online Training Courses that put the power back in your hands. No need to pay an agency to handle it all for you - we’ll make sure you know everything you need too, in order to make your digital presence as strong as it possible can be. Head over to our Eventbrite to find out what courses we have coming up next!

Google My Business: Changes to Be Aware Of

Google My Business: Changes to Be Aware Of

You may or may not have noticed that Google has temporarily removed some features from Google My Business as a result of the current COVID-19 situation. There are a few features that have been changed during this time that you need to be aware of, so here’s some help in understanding what these are and how it’s affecting the GMB page:

Where are my new reviews?

For the time being, Google My Business will not be publishing any new reviews. You will also not be able to reply to your reviews or new Q&A’s until further notice. Don’t panic though – any existing reviews you have, replies to those reviews or Q&A’s will still be visible.

New Listings, Claims and Verifications

Google is now, understandably, prioritising reviewing new listings, claims and verifications for critical health-related businesses. For all other services, you can expect delays of the publication of any new listings, claims and verifications.

I’ve Edited My GMB Page, But Where Are My Edits?

You may have made lots of edits to your Google My Business page so that you are on top of your game and potential customers can see how you’re operating during the coronavirus crisis. But now you’re left wondering, where are they?

Google are running on limited resources, so they have issued warnings that any changes made to your business information will now take a little longer to review. As before, businesses that are directly related to healthcare and critical services will be prioritised. If you don’t fall into that category, Google are now only reviewing edits to the following bits of information:

• Changes to your opening hours

• Whether you are operating on special hours

• Temporary closures of your business

• Descriptions of your business – perhaps you’ve decided to run differently and would like to inform potential new clients of your stances on the coronavirus pandemic

• Changes to your business attributes

If you’ve made edits to your Google My Business page, your efforts will not be disregarded – it will just take longer than usual for them to show up. Google have confirmed that it may take up to three days for your edits to show.

Can I Post Updates in Google Posts?

Yes! Google is currently not restricting the Google Posts functionality. If you’ve got new updates that you’d like to share with your customers, you can still let them know via GMB in the Google Posts function.

We would advise you take advantage of this feature whilst you still can. It’s another way to communicate with your audience and could potentially attract your next new client!

Don’t Forget to Post a COVID-19 Update

You can now inform your customers of relevant information relating to your business. This can include how you are now working, such as new events, new products, offers and announcements.

When you complete your COVID-19 Update, it will look like this under your usual GMB information. Don’t forget to add a CTA to your post and direct people to your new events, products or services!

We hope that our guide will help you to demystify some of your Google My Business questions and queries. We understand that these times can be challenging for businesses of all sizes. We are running all our popular digital marketing courses online, so that we can help as many of you as possible prepare for the environment after coronavirus and of course, keep you going right now. Our courses are free to charities or members of The Projects Brighton and currently only £10 + VAT for everyone else. Head over to our Eventbrite to find out what courses we have coming up next!

Keyword Searches Have Changed Due To Covid-19

Keyword Searches Have Changed Due To Covid-19

How do you think your customers find you on Google or other search engines? 

Keywords are simply the words that a user decides to use when trying to find what they are looking for online. Whether local, national or purely online, the keyword or keywords are entered into a search engine, which then locates websites that are authoritative, relevant and supply the information, product or services the user is looking for. 

Prior to Covid-19, there were likely a few keywords that you could tell me were being searched for by your then customers or potential customers - but how has the landscape changed now?

Having conducted research on a number of different industry sectors, Creative Bloom have found that March 2020 saw a 50% decrease in typical search volumes on specific topics. The majority of sectors that operated services in physical locations were affected by this and saw a transition to keywords related to online services. 

• Online searches in Brighton for ‘Online Course’ have changed from 90 searches per month in Feb 2020 to 320 searches per month in Mar 2020.

• Online searches in Brighton for ‘free online course’ have changed from 110 searches per month in Feb 2020 to 590 searches per month in Mar 2020. 

If, for example, you run training or physical workshops in a specific geographical area, we can tell you that the search terms, traffic and intent have all changed. For example, no longer are users looking for ‘Website Training in Brighton’, but now keywords are all about ‘online website training’. No longer are users searching for ‘Personal Trainers in Brighton’ but instead ‘online personal trainer’ or ‘at home leg workout’. 

It’s vital that you do your own research to understand how the search environment has changed for your business and how your competitors have adapted. Should you also consider changing your content / website / strategy to mirror this change?

Creative Bloom are offering a FREE keyword trend report for any company, charity or individual interested. Get in touch with us here and we’ll be happy to help shed some light on how your sector search terms have changed. 

The Value of Pay Per Click Advertising

PPC. Those three letters can be quite daunting to someone who’s never properly investigated them. Pay-Per-Click advertising can be complex, but definitely worth it. Done correctly, PPC can be incredibly valuable for businesses and brands of all sizes.

So, What Is Pay Per Click Advertising?

Per-per-click (or PPC for short) is an advertising model that enables businesses to place adverts on an ad platform and pay the host of that platform every time their ad is clicked. Still with us?

The ultimate goal of a PPC advert is to entice your audience and lead the person viewing it to click through to your website or app. This is so that whoever is visiting your website or app can complete a valuable action – such as purchasing your product.

The most common type of PPC ads are ‘Paid Search Ads’. These types of adverts are usually displayed when someone searches for something online using a search engine like Google. These occupy the top four spots in Google search engine result pages. Did you know that 64.6% of consumers clicked on Google ads when shopping online*?

A big driver in using PPC advertising is the immediate results that can come from your campaign. Strategically crafted PPC campaigns can provide excellent traffic to your website, prompt business leads and attract more customers in a short amount of time.

How PPC Can Benefit Your Business

Using PPC in your marketing strategy can help you achieve a vast number of business and marketing goals. Benefit from high-level brand exposure and - even better - get a sale or a new lead!

Using PPC advertising can support many parts of the sales funnel and the path that your prospect customers take from brand awareness to becoming a paying customer.

PPC can help you assess what keywords to utilise for your SEO strategy, and give you presence where your SEO may not.

Your PPC Advert is Measurable and Trackable

Another great thing that can come from running PPC ads is that almost any type of conversion goal can be tracked. You can measure anything that is related to your PPC campaign such as costs, profits, views, clicks and visits. From the time you begin your PPC campaign, you will know how much you have spent and be able to see whether you are generating a profit or a loss.

There will be no mysteries when it comes to your PPC performance! Combined with Google Analytics you’ll be able to see high-level performance details. All your stats will be readily available, so you’ll be able to see what kind of traffic you are getting and what results they are driving for your advert budget.

Stay in Control of your PPC Adverts

Staying in control of your PPC adverts means there is a lot of flexibility if you decide you’d like to start off small. For instance, if you’re beginning to see positive results from your advert you can decide to scale up immediately and start raking in the customers! Or, if it’s not going to plan you can take a break and pause or stop your ad entirely. This gives you the opportunity to be in control of your spending and work accordingly.

Another great feature of running PPC ads is the opportunities to make quick edits and optimise while your ads are up and running. Anything from a sneaky spelling mistake to deciding to test something completely new – you are in complete control of your ad.

We hope this has helped uncover a few mysteries for you when it comes to PPC Advertising. If you want to learn more about how PPC advertising could benefit your business then how about attend one of our Online PPC Training Sessions? It’s important to us that we help you, help yourselves and your business. Our online PPC training will teach you why Paid Advertising is so important and how it can boost your website traffic and ultimately get you more customers!

• Ref: wordstream, 2019 Study of US paid advertising market

The Value Of Local SEO

The Value Of Local SEO

Your local high street really is changing. Online retailers have been mercilessly muscling in on local business traffic, reducing footfall and it’s become increasingly difficult for local businesses to get the customers they need; through their doors. 

As a result, online real estate has become incredibly high value territory and local businesses have begun moving their attention to the top 10 positions on a Google local results page. Owning your space and competing on Google is imperative to get you in front of your local customers and keep you prepared for an ever-evolving, digitally-focussed future. 

So What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO or Local Search Engine Optimisation, is the most effective approach to enable you to market your local business online, with the goal being, to rank as highly as possible for search terms relating to your business/product and ultimately increase sales and leads. 

Keywords that shout ‘local’:

• Digital marketing near me

• Digital marketing agency brighton

• Digital marketing brighton

• Local digital agency

There are a number of different factors that influence Local SEO including: geographical location, Google My Business page optimisation, review signals, local links, keyword rich content etc.

However, it’s important to remember that Search Engine Optimisation of any kind is not something you perform once and then ‘forget about’. You must be continuously aware of the search environment, how your customers are using keywords and search queries differently and also keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing.

What’s The Financial Value of Local SEO?

Let’s understand the financial value of ranking highly for a keyword. Let’s imagine the keyword ‘digital marketing agency’ costs £3 per click for Paid Advertising placement and that keyword gets 200 searches per month.

As the number #1 Organic spot in Google receives approx 30% of that traffic, the clicks you would get in the first organic position would equate to around £180 if they had been generated from advertising.

In addition, if you were ranking for 4/5 other top keywords, that would cost close to £900 a month to cement if it had been generated from advertising.

We should also consider that with paid ads, sometimes users ignore them completely and go to the first organic results - another example of how valuable the top organic rankings can be.

So once you’re ranking well for keywords organically through Local SEO, you’re theoretically getting clicks for free!

Are My Customers Actually Searching Online?

95% of smartphone users have used their mobile to perform local searches. This can be anything from a cafe to Architectural services, local charities, recycling centres and beyond. If you don’t have an online presence, haven’t optimised your website or Google My Business page then it’s inevitable that you’re missing out on a huge amount of potential customers. What’s worse, is your competitors are the ones benefiting from your lack of local signals!

Will Local SEO Help My Website Get Found?

If you follow the right steps, stay consistent and ensure you put the time and effort doing it right, then the simple answer is, yes. 

We have worked with a huge number of local businesses in Sussex and other parts of the UK who have followed our formula and seen their local rankings improve drastically. 

We’re so confident in our process that if after 6 months you haven’t increased your leads, then we’ll work for free until we do.