Gain more website traffic—and convince them to buy after they arrive
SUMMARY Most customers use the web to research products or services before buying. Getting them to your website and persuading them once they arrive can involve a delicate balance in the use of keywords... but it's difficult for most search engine optimization experts to do both well. We can help.
CONTENTS
Statistics | Why optimize your website? One reason: more website traffic
Background | The Achilles heel of many a search engine optimization company
Information | Our search engine optimization service
Why optimize your website? (One reason: more website traffic)
A full 60% of consumers use the internet as their primary way to search for local businesses, according to a 2007 survey by internet data firm comScore... and 60% of those searchers go on to make a purchase from a local business. It's not just local, either. According to an eMarketer survey of more than 27,500 internet users worldwide, 63% use the web to research a product or service before buying.
These are just two reasons that search engine optimization (SEO) has become a buzz word these days. According to marketing research firm Marketing Sherpa, companies that optimize their website in-house see a 38% jump in traffic; companies that hire SEO experts see a 110% jump.
[ Search engine optimization is a constellation of techniques designed to boost your website's rank on Google and other search engines, making it easier for customers to find you online. ]
The Achilles heel of many a search engine optimization company
The typical search engine optimization company focuses much effort on bringing high numbers of visitors to your website through the strategic use of keywords in the content (text).
Unfortunately, the Achilles heel of many a search engine optimization expert comes into view once a visitor arrives at your website and finds keywords repeated excessively and unnaturally throughout the content. Far from persuading her to do business with you, the awkward writing drives her away. After all, the next website is only a click or two away.
(We've all seen it—web content like: "We sell pens, black pens, blue pens, red pens, a red pen, the best pens, pens of the highest quality, and pens you'd find at your office supply store but at the lowest prices you've ever seen for pens." While this is admittedly an extreme example, even a milder version is likely to send someone running—and not to your place of business.)
Sound far fetched? Larry Bailin, author of Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?, estimates that you have 5 to 8 seconds to convince your web visitors you can help them. A great many things have to be right in order for that to happen... and poor writing isn't one of them.
The smartest search engine optimization experts know this and plan around it. Eric Enge, a regular contributor to Search Engine Land's Industrial Strength column, says, "We don't hire SEO copywriters to work with us and our clients. We hire writers. ... Hire writers and let them write good stuff. Great content, on a site that is search engine friendly, and that is effectively promoted, will always do well."
Our search engine optimization service
After a number of complaints about unnatural SEO writing from our small business clients, content we sometimes rewrote for them using our existing writing expertise and our own knowledge of the best SEO practices, we felt increasingly frustrated on their behalf. Today we offer an expert search engine optimization service in addition to our original specialties in design, marketing strategy, and writing.
If you jump over to our article on affluent web design or our page about marketing to baby boomer women, you'll see our work in action. This website is optimized, but if you hadn't known that in advance, chances are good that you wouldn't have noticed our use of keywords. This kind of natural writing for SEO can bring many visitors to your website and keep them interested once they arrive, leading a higher number to become your customers.
We typically offer our search engine optimization service only to our web design clients, so we'll talk about this with you when we discuss your website design project—contact us to get started!
However, if you have an existing list of keywords provided to you by an SEO professional and simply need a revamp of your website's text to make it more attractive to human visitors, contact us and we can discuss options. (We will always respect your SEO expert's original directives; in this case we would focus solely on rewriting your web content in a way that will support your efforts to bring in more website traffic.)
What would you like to know?
- If you‘re interested in a custom web design or redesign, visit our web design page
- If you’d like to find out more about us or our pricing, start with our about Aio Design page
- If affluent women are your target market, visit our marketing to women page
- If baby boomer women are your target market, visit our marketing to women baby boomers page
- If you’re a woman entrepreneur, visit our page for women business owners
- If you’re looking for information to help you, see our helpful articles page or order our free report
