… and making them part of your marketing strategy
What exactly are key words, key phrases and search terms?
Quite simply they are the means by which customers will find you on the internet. So if your company specialises in retail consultancy or coloured metallic window blinds, the words ‘retail consultancy’ or ‘coloured metallic window blinds’ and obvious variants in headings and content (and, if possible, your company name) will be picked up by Google’s web crawlers/web robots – a process which is also known as ‘spidering’.
If your company has a regional base (for example your client base is mainly in and around Bristol, adding ‘Bristol’ and ‘Southwest’ to your chosen key words or key phrases will help because this, as you know from your own consumer experience, is very often how potential customers will search.
So far so straightforward
Things obviously become more difficult if your business is competing in crowded marketplace. For businesses with sizeable marketing budgets, spending substantial sums on specialist SEO (search engine optimisation) including Google AdWords can reap quick rewards, although the process is not an exact science. At Two Lizards we work only with experienced experts who have achieved proven results so if this is the best way to get your business up the rankings in a short timescale, we will work with you on an SEO strategy that focuses on specific search terms in a methodical and measurable way.
What about businesses with more modest budgets?
While few web development companies offer anything beyond making a new site ‘Google friendly’ (without specifying how) we work closely with our clients to identify the most productive key words and phrases, introducing them into the content, then analysing their effect with each SEO report and building on their success with successive months or quarters. The results, being organic rather than dependent on AdWord spend, reap better long term rewards, resulting in resilient rankings and a shared bank of knowledge that stands us in good stead as a client/agency team.
But how does this work if the business in question is selling a completely new product or service?
There is a chicken and egg problem here which makes the selection of key words and search terms more difficult. While selecting key words and key phrases to sell tutoring services in and around Exeter is a relatively straightforward exercise, the selection to sell, say, a specialist English language coaching for management presentations that works throughout the UK is decidedly less so. In this case, search terms often work more effectively when they focus on the problem solved rather than the nature of the product or service – because few if any will be searching for something they have never heard of.
So while there are apps and services claiming that ‘the’ list of key words, search terms/key phrases you need are just a couple of clicks away, we believe there is no substitute for thorough key word research in which we and our clients discuss the potential customers we need to target and the steps needed to help them not only find the website in question but stay on it long enough to be interested and to respond.
As marketers and not just web developers we also offer further, significant advantages to our clients.
We include in key word strategy not only an analysis of competitive companies, but the specific role the website will play in the overall marketing strategy, the strengths and weaknesses of the product or services it is selling and other significant factors before we present any SEO and search term recommendations. In other words, we ensure SEO is an integral element of marketing, not just a bolt-on.
B2B or B2C?
We are equally at home with consumer or business to business marketing (an area where keyword analysis can be particularly challenging).
Where most web developers will ‘manage’ a site simply by updating the content and renewing the hosting and domain accounts when necessary, we offer a full marketing-based management service. We can review websites on a regular basis once they are launched, analysing and reviewing keywords and search terms, looking at visitor numbers and behaviour, navigation and (most important of all) responses, to turn visitors into leads and leads into sales.
And, unlike most web developers Two Lizards helps its clients to use business listings where applicable (many of which are free), using them to help support the SEO strategy and improve rankings for key search terms.
The proof of our experience with search term and keyword analysis can be seen in the success of sites we have developed and manage for clients as diverse as True Medispa and Showerpower.
As an ad and marketing agency based in based in Horsham, we are particularly skilled in managing SEO, including local area marketing and business listings for companies around Horsham, Billingshurst, Crawley and within West Sussex. But many of our clients are from further afield or are national players.
Could our meticulous and experienced approach to key word and search term analysis get your business where it wants to be? To find out how we can help you, just email us or give us a call on 01306 621001.
