One of the Most Important Parts of SEO
We understand, perhaps better than most, that there is a wide ranging perception relating to SEO that it is complex and nearly impossible to understand.
In a constantly evolving landscape, it is easy to see why this may be the case but we would like to shine a light on some of the basics to help provide you with a little insight.
It is all too easy to get wrapped up in trying to figure out exactly what search engines are looking for and tailoring all of your efforts towards them. However, whilst that cannot be completely ignored, the most important part of any SEO campaign is considering who you are targeting (i.e. your potential customers).
Creating The Right Content
With any website and any SEO campaign, it is essential that you make your audience your number one priority. By thinking like your audience and 
acting like your audience, you will be able to create content for your audience.
More than anything else, are you producing quality content? Are you getting your message across? Are you waffling on for pages when a few well chosen words would do? Are you providing a reason for people to spend more than a few seconds reading your pages?
These are just some of the questions to ask yourself in assessing whether you’re providing quality content. This is not the place to skimp since it is the cornerstone upon which nearly all other factors depend.
Tips For Creating Content
To help you along the way, we have drawn up a list of some of the most important tips to help provide the best possible start to creating engaging content for your website.
- Spend some time making a decision on which writing style will be the most appropriate for your line of business and your audience? Informal and chatty, or Formal and serious?
- Keep the flow of content to your website regular. Either in the form of landing pages or blogs.
- For any blogs, enable your readers to comment on your blog. Creating the ability to interact with customers is absolutely essential.
- Spend some time researching your competitor’s websites. Without actually lifting content straight from them, there is every chance that you will find some great ideas that you may be able to tailor for your own needs.
- Always keep your eyes open. It can be amazing where you can find some great ideas for interesting and engaging content for your website.
- Use links and images. No one wants to look at a page full of dry text; appropriate and entertaining images break up the flow of the blog. They also provide invaluable keyword search opportunities, if properly labelled and tagged. Links in your blog to relevant pages on your site will keep people on your website! Links to other sites, or supporting articles add a credence to your blog that is also crucial to your SEO.
- Link your blog to all your social media channels. This will let all your followers know when new content has gone up – keeping them in the loop and encouraging them to visit your site.
To find out more about how the Footprint Web Design Surrey team can help you, please give us a call on Tel. No. 01883 372488 and we’ll be happy to talk through your options with you.
5 Ways Local SEO Can Benefit Your Business
There can be no doubt that local SEO is a highly effective method of promoting your business in local areas. Offering the ideal opportunity to tap into local customers looking for the products and services that you are selling, local SEO can help to elevate your business to another level.
Perhaps the best news is that these potential customers are not just online customers, they are customers who may be looking to come through your shop door. Effective local SEO techniques do not just promote your website, they promote your NAP (name, address and phone number), ensuring that potential customers find it as easy as possible to either call you or visit you rather than just using your website.
Implementing Local SEO
A local SEO campaign targets search engines like Google and Yahoo along with business directories such as Yell, Thomson Direct and FreeIndex to 
name just a few.
With millions of local customers using these services each and every day to identify the best local businesses in their area, can you afford not to use local SEO for your business?
If you are still unsure whether local SEO is for you, we have drawn up a list below of 5 ways that it will help to benefit your business:
Benefit No. 1 – 85% of Consumers Use the Internet to Find Local Businesses*
With as many as 85% of local customers now using Google and online directories as their primary method of finding local services and products, it is essential that you make the effort to tap into this market.
*Source – https://biz.yelp.co.uk/blog/survey-85-of-consumers-use-the-internet-to-find-local-businesses
Benefit No. 2 – The number of online searches is growing rapidly
Accessing the internet has never been easier. With more and more people using mobile devices and tablets, there are now a huge number of people seeking local information & businesses via search engines like Google.
Benefit No. 3 – Local search marketing offer highly relevant results
By targeting location based search results and online directories, you have the ability to promote your business to local customers at the precise point 
that they are in need of your products and services.
The timing simply could not be better because there is absolutely no better time to connect with a potential customer than when they really need you.
Benefit No. 4 – Excellent conversion rates
Because of the relevance of the people finding your business details, location based marketing has a significantly better conversion rate than other, more traditional advertising options.
Benefit No. 5 – Great ROI
Unlike alternative advertising methods, such as (e.g. local papers, leaflets etc…) local SEO ensures that there is no wastage. You will be reaching your potential customers when they need you not when they don’t. This makes local SEO both efficient and cost-effective.
You can find out more about our dedicated local SEO services by clicking here.
To find out more about how the Footprint Web Design team can help you, please give us a call on Tel. No. 01883 372488 and we’ll be happy to talk through your options with you.
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Are Online Customer Reviews Important For a Website?
Gathering reviews and feedback from customers has always been an important part of business management but with the ease at which potential customers can switch from one company to another, generating positive reviews is now one of the key methods of creating a gap between your business and your competitors.
Never Been Easier to Express Opinions
There are a huge amount of positives attached to the growth of the internet and one of the best is the ease at which people can now express their 
opinions and a huge variety of subjects.
If you run a business, you have the perfect opportunity to tap into this by providing your customers with the opportunity to leave feedback regarding your products and services in the form of online reviews.
These reviews can either be sent directly to your website or Social Media pages, such as Facebook, Twitter & Google +, or to one of the many online directories which aggregate online reviews, such as Yelp or Yell.
How Important Are Online Reviews?
We are now firmly in the grip of the digital age and a very strong case can be made regarding the fact that online reviews have largely taken the place of word-of-mouth referrals.
A recent article by Search Engine Land found that up to 79% of people are now prepared to put as much faith on an online review as the recommendation of a friend or family member.
Such is the ease of access that potential customers have to the internet through their smart phones, tablets, PCs and laptops, it has never been easier
to seek out online reviews of products and services offered by various companies all around the world — including people who have used your business in the past.
Step Up or Miss Out
Put yourself in the position of a customer using a company for the first time. If they have 2 companies offering similar services/products at similar prices, they are very likely to want to draw from another variable to help them make a decision on which company to use.
More often than not, customer feedback is now this variable. The difference between being able to view other customer’s experience and taking a virtual leap of faith can turn a potential sale into a loss of business.
To find out more about how the Footprint Web Design Surrey team can help you, please give us a call on Tel. No. 01883 372488 and we’ll be happy to talk through your options with you.
