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?

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.

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. 

How To SEO For International Markets

How To SEO For International Markets

Take care of the simple but important challenges before launching:

The most important challenge for international SEO is that you need to strategically adapt your brand for different cultures, all who have their own unique complexities.

Make sure to conduct market research in order to understand your international customers needs and desires. You can do this through keyword research and using social media like Twitter or Reddit to grasp a better understanding of what these customer’s problems are and what questions they are asking.

Research your local competitors, research what strategies your competitors have been using and analyse the gaps between you. Use these gaps to boost your growth into the international market.

Study the infrastructure of your targeted countries, although Google seems like the go-to norm, the preferred search engine may be different in your target countries. So don’t waste time on Google ads if your new customers aren’t going to see them! For example, in China, the most popular search engine is Baidu.

Should I target a language or a country with my website?

There are pros and cons to each option:

Targeting a language: this allows you to target people who live in different countries but speak the same language, additionally you don’t need to optimise it for any specific culture. However, you need to be aware that you’ll be using a ‘broad brush’ approach for a language where some countries may use different keywords/language when searching for services.

Targeting a country: alternatively, you can build your brand presence from scratch; not only translating your content but optimising it for that specific culture and customer preferences.

Which website structure should you choose for your domain?

This question follows on from the previous. Choosing your domain depends on whether you are targeting a language or a country.

If you are targeting a language, you don’t necessarily need to launch a completely new website, but rather you choose a subdomain or subdirectory which will host the translation of your original website. This requires less work to set up and less money to host.

On the flip-side, if you are targeting a country you may have to launch a country code top-level domain in order to gain higher authority in search engines and higher trust in potential customers. However, you will need to build your website popularity and authority from scratch.

How should business localise content on new site?

The main challenge of localising content is that simply translating a few of your pages into the target language won’t cut it. You need a well rounded and extensive understanding of your potential clientele in order to make your content effective.

Identify your keywords in a new language: unfortunately, translating your keywords word by word isn’t an efficient or viable use of your time. Additionally, some words have different meanings in different languages and can rely heavily on context, while local dialect can also play an important role in translating, as your customers may be using completely different terms.

So how can you conduct keyword research?

• Investigate your competitors: research your competitors in the local market, investigate what keywords they are using and compare them to yours in order to find common phrases.

• Hire help from a professional: hire someone who speaks the target language to look over your keywords, they can help you determine if you are using the right keywords for the language and customers you want to target.

Adapt your content to the new target market: your website is going to be your customers first point of call when they research your services/products and weigh up if they want to purchase from you. Therefore, it is extremely important that your website copy is up to a high standard. It’s not enough to simply translate, you need to optimise and adapt your copy to your target market.

These key elements of your website also require localisation:

• URLs

• Title tags

• Meta descriptions

• Image titles and alt texts

• Phone numbers

• Addresses

• Time

• Currency

How can you avoid duplicate content issues?

Google may identify any new version of your website as a duplicate of the original. You can prevent this by using hreflang tags- this tag informs Google that some of your website’s pages have the same content, but they are aimed for different customers and therefore unique.

What is the best international link-building strategy?

In order to build visibility and local authority, you need to ensure you have local links to your website. You can achieve this through:

Writing for the local media. This will allow you to gain exposure by offering advice and sharing your expertise. You could even start doing this before launching your international site. But remember; when writing for foreign websites, ensure you hire a local writer to make sure that your copy meets the standards.

Find and use broken link building. Find broken links and ask permission from the websites’ owners to redirect them to your content, (if it is suitable for the website of course).

What off-site activities can impact your online visibility?

On-site SEO is a vital process of building your brand’s local visibility but there are other techniques to take into consideration as well.

Guest posting: posting on local websites is a relatively inexpensive way to raise brand awareness.

Social media marketing: make sure aside some time to invest in creating social media profiles on the networks that are popular in your targeted countries.

Attend local events: this is one of the best ways to connect with relevant influencers in person, you can introduce your brand and start building a relationship with them straight away.

How does a global brand’s social media presence impact its search results?

The impact of social media on search engines continues to be debated. Google clearly states that social media presence has no impact on how it ranks pages. However, we know that social media presence can affect rankings in certain areas.

Brand awareness: A strong social media presence will help increase the awareness around your brand or product.

Links: Amplifying your content on social media can result in more links and citations back to your website. Which will in turn build your popularity and local authority.

Faster indexing: Social media shares can significantly increase the speed at which your new content gets indexed.

Improved topics targeting: Engaging with your new pool of customers on social media may inform how and what content you create for them.

What are the best tools for optimising international SEO?

Whatever aspect of international SEO you are focusing on, we have put together a handy list of some tools to help you optimise your website and content.

For understanding your new audience:

• Google’s Consumer Barometer: can help you understand how people use the Internet in your target countries.

• Connected Life: publishes an annual report which you can use to gain insight into your potential customers’ behavior in a number of locations, e.g. Brazil, China, Germany, Singapore and South Africa.

For general analysis:

• Google Search Console – can identify your current search status in your new target location. With the Search Console you can monitor international queries, impressions, and CTRs.

• Yandex Metrica, Baidu Index or another equivalent of Google’s Search Console – use it for a specific search engine you’re targeting.

For international keyword ideas:

• SEMrush

• Keywordtool.io

• Ubersuggest

Still have questions? Get in touch with the Creative Bloom team.

How To On-Page SEO

How To On-Page SEO

Hopefully, you’ve arrived here because you’re getting ready to do your own on-page SEO which is something we absolutely encourage at Creative Bloom! It’s not as confusing or tricky as you might think and regardless of what your website is built in, in 2019, pretty much all website builders have an SEO functionality - so whether you’ve already had a free digital clinic with Ollie & Stu or if you’re here for the first time, let’s have a re-cap.

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Your website should be shouting about what you do and for Google, you need to be putting the right keywords in the right places. Below, we’re going to break down each element of your page that should be optimised. As our example, let’s say you have an Art Gallery in Bristol.

Choose Your Keyword

Firstly and most importantly, you need to choose a keyword for your page and this should be unique to each page you optimise. So, have a search on google for the types of keywords a visitor would be inputting and ask people you know! Sometimes we have a bias view of what we think people are searching for. If you’re a local business putting a location keyword is a key factor in ranking locally.

In this instance, I would assume the search would be ‘Bristol Art Gallery’ or ‘Art Galley In Bristol’. You can use a keyword planner to see how popular these searches are. We’re going to go with ‘Bristol Art Gallery’.

Page Title

Your page title (in blue below) is the first element Google reads about your page and this is somewhat ‘hidden’ from a visitor in the tab in your browser.

In this instance our gallery isn’t well known yet so there is no reason to put our brand name right at the beginning because no-one will be searching for it but they WILL be searching for our keyword.

As we’ve chosen our keyword as ‘Bristol Art Gallery’ we’re going to make our homepage title as so: ‘Bristol Art Gallery | The Creative Bloom Gallery’.

As you go through other pages on your site, you could choose keyword variants for those pages that users might search for, for example ‘Bristol Art Dealer’, ‘Art Gallery Exhibition Bristol’, ‘Contemporary Art Gallery Bristol’ etc.

Header (H1)

Your H1 is typically the main heading on your page (see below). This should ideally start with your keyword that you have chosen - ‘Bristol Art Gallery’. We understand this ideally may not sit quite right with the aesthetics of your page, however, without having your keyword in your header, less people will find your page. We’re all about driving more traffic to your pages and getting you more customers!

Note: Your pages should only have ONE H1! If you have any more headings on your page after your main header, make sure you change their heading tag to (H2) sub headings or (H3) sub-sub headings etc.

Keywords In Your Content

Next Google will be reading your content. You’ve already told it that you’re optimising for ‘Bristol Art Gallery’ so now it’s going to check your content to make sure you are who you say you are. That means, in the first paragraph you need to include your keyword ‘Bristol Art Gallery’ however you can. You can see how we’ve managed to incorporate the keyword into our first paragraph (below).

Note: don’t forget to include semantics. Similar words to your keyword that other sites are likely to be talking about. In this instance, with art galleries we should be including semantic keywords such as ‘paintings’ ‘contemporary’ ‘specialist’ ‘exhibition’ ‘collectibles’ ‘collections’ etc.

Alt Text - Image Keywords

Name your images! When looking to edit your page, you will notice when importing or editing images there will be an option to input ‘Alt text’ or ‘Alternative Text’. This just means a keyword to tell Google what this image is - therefore it’s an opportunity to put your keyword in there.

In our example, if we have two images on our page, I will call the alt-text on one ‘Bristol Art Gallery’ and the other ‘Art Gallery In Bristol’ - easy.

Note: don’t get too worried about going through every single image on your site. It’s simply that the more signposting you do to tell Google what your website it about, the better - Image Alt-text is an easy way to do add another positive signal.

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And that’s it really. Do that for all your pages, or (if you have a lot) for your main parent/navigation pages and over time you should slowly start to see your rankings improving. You should still work on creating new content, driving traffic to your pages through different mediums, trying to get links from other websites etc. But this is the solid foundation to start getting you found on Google!

If you have any questions about this article, want to enquire about SEO training with us or anything else SEO related please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.

How to Create a Successful Marketing Strategy

At Bloom Towers, we often find that some clients & marketing managers struggle to get traction with their marketing campaigns. In the bewildering landscape of digital marketing it can be hard to work out the right way forward for your business marketing - ‘should I invest more in SEO? Or a content strategy? Or focus on social media?’ A bad marketing strategy can tank your business - just ask these bears.

Fear not! We are here to guide you through the digital labyrinth.

Successful marketing strategies start with thorough diagnosis

For us strategy is all about identifying the key challenges you face in your competitive & business landscape and creating the means of overcoming them. An effective marketing strategy can be fundamental in allowing a business to effectively build value in it’s brand, services or products.

Creative Bloom’s approach to Digital Marketing strategy takes inspiration from a US strategist called Richard Rumelt and his book Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters (2011) (we suggest get a copy if you haven’t read it). Rumelt explains that strategy should not be defined by ambition, leadership, vision or planning; but a coherent action backed by an argument, and we agree entirely. For Rumelt, the essence of a successful strategy is thorough diagnosis of a situation, creating an overall guiding policy to overcome challenges and the design of coherent action plan, that is driven to effect.

So, applied to marketing, a good strategy can be broken down into three key ideas.

1. Diagnosis: getting to grips with what’s really going on. This involves effort and a deep analysis of your current marketing efforts & available resources, the competitive landscape you operate in. You need to gain insights into your market environment, your customers and assess your competition and internal situation. These insights are important as Rumelt says “an especially insightful diagnosis can transform one’s view of the situation, bringing a radically different perspective to bear.” When a digital marketing diagnosis is carried out properly, it will correctly inform how you respond to weaknesses/challenges.
   
   

2. A Guiding Policy; the purpose of this is to direct your actions, it is the context in which your actions are made and helps to ‘guide’ them. “It is like a signpost, marking the direction forward but not defining the details of the trip”, the guiding policy should outline the overall approach for tackling the weaknesses you identified with your deep diagnosis. An example of a successful guiding policy is Barcelona FC who developed a guiding policy of embracing ‘Total Football’ throughout the club in the 1970s to then become a powerhouse in European club football.
   
   

3. Coherent Action; strategy is nothing without action or measurement. Just as a diagnosis informs the guiding policy, the guiding policy informs the coherent action to achieve your goal. These actions should be coherent, consistent and coordinated. “A good strategy doesn’t just draw on existing strength; it creates strength through the coherence of its design” , these actions should support and build upon each other, steadily building towards the goal. Performance measurement is critical for good strategy: Are our actions making an impact? Is the strategy working? Do we need to adjust things?

Only through the process of regular performance monitoring can you develop a successful marketing strategy, be prepared & geared up to adapt.

In summary, when all three areas have been considered and you haven’t rushed or skipped any steps, you can maximise your opportunities of delivering fantastic results!

NEED SOME HELP? WE ARE HERE TO ASSIST

CONTACT US TO HELP YOU CREATE AN IMPACTFUL MARKETING STRATEGY

How to build the marketing strategy for your eco business

Promoting a brand, product or service with limited marketing resources is a difficult challenge. We've been working with the University of Brighton's Green Growth Platform for the past few years, hosting regular free workshops to their members, to help give them the tools to execute a great marketing campaign on a low budget. 

One practice that we use to put together a marketing strategy for all of our clients, as well as advise in our workshops, is "POST". 

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What goes into a POST marketing plan?

P | People

Who are you trying to target?

Every successful business is centered around solving a pain point for people. However, in order to reach the people with the pain, you need to know who they are and how you can reach them.

When we talk about ‘people’ at the start of a strategy, what we’re really doing in “official marketing terms” is creating different ‘audience segments’.

The more detail you can go into on who you’re trying to target, the more creative you can get with the messaging - and the lower the risk of alienating people.

The most effective marketing strategies identify and target between 3 and 5 different ‘personas’, painting a picture of them with the following types of data: 

• Age

• Gender

• Location

• Occupation

• Routine (specifically relationship commitments and work patterns)

• Buying habits (what they choose to spend their money on)

• Views (political, sociological and other topics important to them)

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O | Objective

What are you trying to achieve?

 

'Marketing' is an open ended practice. There are so many different ways that a product, service or brand can be marketed, but the most ineffective campaigns are those who spread their efforts too thinly. 

This is where separating your marketing efforts by campaign objectives is vital. Firstly, it enables you to keep your "eyes of the prize" through the campaign, but it also acts as a pinnacle through the strategy planning stages to help you keep on mission.

And you need to be specific: How many more sales do you want? How much higher would you like your reach or engagement to be? How many more site visitors or social media followers do you want?

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S | Strategy

How are you going to achieve it?

 

This is when you start really getting into the creative thinking through identifying the messages that would both speak to your audience and help you to meet your objective.

The best marketing plans include a range of different ways that you can do this.

Examples of strategies that would be implemented include educating the audience on your industry, directly selling your product, highlighting certain aspects of your product, and building or supporting a community to promote brand awareness.

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T | Tactics

Which tools will you use?

 

Here's where you get into the details and map out which platforms you're going to use for getting these messages out there - with a big focus on where your target audience are.  

For instance, if you're trying to promote discounts to certain organisations, it can be most effective to flyer outside of their building. Alternatively, if you're trying to sell a type of food to families across the UK, Google display ads would be better practice.

You can use a range of different tactics per strategy.

You can find out more about POST, as well as a whole range of marketing practices that keep costs low and success rates high, at our very popular two-day digital marketing workshops.

Or you can contact us and we can run them for your business