Search Engine Optimisation and Sales

The latest "cry for help" came at the end of last week with a website owner that had spent thousands of pounds and a lot of time getting their website optimised for search engines (SEO) only for his sales to remain flatlined.

Like all enquiries, Emerging Innovations Ltd takes a holistic view of the online business strategy and in this case - like in so many others we have identified over the years - a fundamental misunderstanding was the cause of their site's failure.

So, let's be clear about this:

Search Engine Optimisation does not automatically equate to Increased Sales

When you start to look at your own business website like a customer does you'll understand that the search engine is only the beginning of a journey that the customer is making. You're hoping that the journey will take them to the goal of your website: A checkout button, an enquiry form, a download, a booking ... or whatever.

Too many site owners spend their money and time looking at the first step and fail completely to acknowledge the importance of any other aspect. We don't want people to fall into this trap so let us share just a few pointers which may help you look beyond simple SEO effort:

• Are your site's "Landing pages" (the pages that a user sees when they come from the search engine) geared towards their needs? You're not sending them to the home page are you?
• What efforts are you making to engage with the customer on a long term basis during that first visit? Can they bookmark, sign up for a newsletter or follow you on Twitter?
• If it's information that the visitor is after then don't let your sales patter get in the way. Provide the user with what they want and they're more likely to come back (and buy) in the future;
• Your website enquiry forms work, don't they? When was the last time you checked for yourself?
• Is each page that the user visits on the way to your goal absolutely necessary? If I know what I want to buy I don't want to be distracted or delayed from doing so.
• Is registration absolutely necessary? Why?

The above are just some of the questions that we ask when we get engaged with a client. So you can hopefully see that although SEO is important that only gets potential clients to your site … you still have to close the deal.

If you'd like more information or an analysis of your own business website please don't hesitate to contact us.