SEO - is it really necessary?

Interesting question! As you talk to people, and especially webmasters, you will hear differing opinions. Mostly though, the people who are of the opinion that SEO is not necessary, have little or no knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation and the search engines in general.

You know, those webmasters who maintain that it is the look and feel of a website that is the most important factor. Hmmm. Wonder how they think internet users are supposed to get to your website in the first place? It is true that one needs to find a happy medium between what site visitors want and what search engines want, but firstly they need to get to your site!

The real scary part is that there are still so many web designers out there who really ought to know better. Instead, they are focused only on making money out of clients who more often than not, do not know better themselves and are reliant on their webmasters to give them the best possible option for their online businesses!

SEO is now more important than ever.

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines via "natural" (also "organic" or "algorithmic") search results - according to Wikipedia.

By this definition alone, it seems clear already that good and proper SEO is a definite requirement for any website - if it wishes to be successful. The online competition today is fiercer than ever before and getting more so by the day. More and more players are entering the field, and all of them are after that elusive pot of gold they have heard about - internet commerce.

Bottom line - if you want to keep ahead of the competition and secure every possible advantage for your website, one of the most important factors you need is to have it properly optimised. And preferably by someone who really knows what SEO entails.

What is the bottom line?

The bottom line for any person or entity who call themselves SEO Experts remain the fact that you can only be so named if you keep up with the ever changing world of SEO, as these techniques have evolved considerably over the past decade, although the fundamentals remain the same. SEO changes so rapidly nowadays that you simply cannot refer to yourself as someone who has knowledge of SEO, let alone an expert, if you do not spend huge chunks of your time keeping up to date.

The fundamentals of SEO

a. Correctness of metatags
b. Careful research to determine keywords that are as descriptive as possible of your business and area of business - over the past years Google has started showing differing results to it's users depending on their locality.
c. Proper on-page SEO - correct use of keywords in headers and in the text. Also, text on the website and more specifically the homepage plays a crucial role as search engines become more focused on site content and it's relevancy to any search being done.
d. Blog optimisation - Over the past few years blogs have become a virtual requirement for any business that needs to build online credibility and free incoming links.
e. Backlinks, or Inbound links to your website - this part is crucial. Every link to your website is seen by the search engines as a "nod of approval" - you can never have enough. This is achieved in 3 ways as part of the overall SEO strategy of your website:
i. Submission of website to online directories from where backlinks are created to your site.
ii. Article submissions - writing and submission of articles related to your website content (ie business) in order to create yet more links.
iii. Social Bookmarking - the latest in the SEO world. This serves to create one way links and further enhances the website's visibility on the internet.

Why is business blogging good for you? Part 3/3

Reason # 2

Want to increase the odds of listing faster in Google? Get a blog!

All the top search engines simply love sites with regular and original new content. This is exactly what a blog does, with the minimum amount of hassle and time. If you want to make content changes to your website via your webmaster, it usually takes a day or two, plus it costs you!

Now, it is obviously of the utmost importance to keep your website updated at all times – nothing reflects so negative on a business as a website that still shows specials of the previous year, or contact details and/or persons that have long since left the company or does NOT show your latest products or is simply outdated in general.

But on your blog you can add new content to compliment your website as regular as you like, and all it costs you is maybe 15 minutes to make a new blog entry.

And that is the bottom line - a blog adds new content on a regular basis.

NOTE – do ask your SEO specialist to assist you in ensuring the blog is also properly optimized.

Why is business blogging good for you? Part 2/3

Reason # 1

People buy from people - Blogs add personality to your business

When you talk about impersonal marketing mediums, few compare to the internet. As a matter of interest, this is why we advise clients to include their photographs on their websites as well.

Any opportunity you can get to add some personality to your business will increase your sales!

Clever use of a blog to add another “voice” to your business wil help your customers get a better sense of the person or persons behind the business. Does this sound like something that will help you build stronger relationships with clients? You decide. Will that improve your sales? You decide!

The most important part here is not to use fancy business “lingo” – keep it conversational and personal.

Make your readers feel as if you are addressing them in person. Share personal stories and other information that may be useful about your business and/or industry. Involvement in community upliftment projects, sports sponsorships, in fact, any kind of sponsorship, etc.

Make it interesting for people to read - make them WANT to read it!

Keep your blog posts down to about 400 to 500 words max! Shorter is also good. Readers do not want to sit and spend hours reading your posts. They want to quickly scan it, hopefully learn something, and carry on with something else.

Why is business blogging good for you? Part 1/3

Fact. If you look around on the internet nowadays, you will notice how blogging has become a staple part of many online businesses.

But there are still a lot of people - and in particular business owners - out there who are still trying to understand just why it would be to their advantage to have a blog for their business. Everybody is busy, so managing a blog will obviously take a bit of additional time. But why do you NEED a blog?

Firstly, what is a blog?

A blog is in essence an online journal that displays a series of posts in chronological order. Important is that these posts are written in a very plain, informal tone. Almost like having a conversation. No hidden advertising messages etc.

So let us say you have an accommodation establishment. Or you simpy sell some sort of gadget. Why on earth do you need a blog?!

Here are two important reasons for you to think about:

Reason #1 - People prefer to buy from people - not machines!

Reason #2 - Blogs are a great help to get you listed in Google much faster!

More on these two reasons next time.