Monthly Archives: April 2016

25 04, 2016

5 Killer SEO Methods For 2016

By |2019-01-30T21:20:51+00:00April 25th, 2016|SEO, Keywords|0 Comments

SEO is big business! Every company is doing it, but not everyone is doing it right. Over the years there have been many different tools, programs and platforms that make the process a whole lot easier to rank well based on many factors. SEO has changed so much from where it began, and still is today and will in the future as well.

What if I told you that programs alone won’t solve your SEO woes, but that different methods that even some experts don’t use achieve great optimisation.

Today I have got for you 5 killer SEO methods that work in 2016. These are sure to boost your rankings in the search engines for pages and posts…

Header Tags (H1, H2, H3 Etc.)

These should be used for all content on a website (pages and blog posts). Even the header above is an H2 tag. They should be used to break up text and highlight parts of content on the page, making it look more compelling whilst also having a big SEO benefit. If you use WordPress then you don’t need to worry about including a H1 title tag in the body of content, as it is created when you give the page or post a title.

Try to have a natural structure with header tags, using H2 tags for main titles, H3 tags for sub titles and so on. Be careful not to repeat loads of H2, H3 or H4 tags as that is a negative ranking practise that should be avoided and could damage the future SEO reputation of the website.

Density Of Keywords In Content

There is no right or wrong answer, but best practise is usually 2.5% or under (Yoast SEO) of the word count of the content. The bulk use of the keyword should be in the main content. It should also be used once in the first and last paragraphs of the copy. Not only does this make the topic clear to the reader straight away, it is also good for the search engine rankings.

It is also good practise to highlight key terms (bold, italic, underline) for improving readability and making it easy for the reader to understand what they are reading.

Meta Description

The meta description should be unique and relevant for each page/post and include the focus keyword in there. It should be a summary of that page or post, compelling users to click through if they have already been convinced by the meta title and need more information before deciding to click.

160 characters is the limit, go over and the description will be truncated which doesn’t look the best if your a potential user.

Interlinking (And External Linking)

If some pages don’t get enough traffic to them, it is a good idea to link to them from other, relevant content on the site. It can be a good way of sending traffic and page rank to content that readers don’t know is there. It may even lead them to make a purchase or sign up for a newsletter because of interlinking with other pages that compels them to take the desired action.

Linking to external sites is also beneficial if it is a relevant and trusted site to the content on the page. Make sure you don’t take the user away from your website completely, do it so the link opens in a new tab so your website stays open.

Content Is King

Google’s current top ranking factor is unique content… and lots of it! It goes without saying, if you don’t have compelling enough content, bounce-rates are going to be really high. To combat this, create engaging content that is based on target keywords. It’s really a good idea to pose questions to the readers and share opinions, so you can start a debate and create interest in your brand.

Pictures, info-graphics and videos in content also help to keep engagement up and benefit the website in the search engine rankings.

Take the time to build up strong, compelling content. Your readers will appreciate it and Google will love it as well.

Summary

On-page SEO can take quite a while to do effectively, but done well can provide enormous SEO benefits for your website. These killer methods are what Google currently loves and ranks well for. I have made sure you stay one step ahead of the game with the most current and powerful SEO methods that you can put to action today.

20 04, 2016

Four Reasons Why Google AdWords Is Awesome

By |2019-01-30T21:20:51+00:00April 20th, 2016|AdWords, Google, PPC|0 Comments

Google AdWords Is Awesome!

Whether you are running a campaign to get your brand noticed or are looking at getting conversions. Google AdWords is awesome for a variety of reasons. Almost any business can effectively run ad campaigns and the AdWords tool makes it the easiest and most powerful way to do so.

Now I’m not saying Google AdWords is the definitive be all and end all of ad platforms, because there is Bing Ads and that is also a great tool in it’s own right. There is good and bad in anything, and I want to share the positives of AdWords from my experience with it.

1. Faster And More Simple Than SEO

Usually to see results from performing SEO on a website, you could wait months before there are any changes (if any). For Search Engine Optimisation to take effect, a website needs to be well established and earn links and authority the right way.

In AdWords you see results fast and can get impressions almost immediately. It is also a good way of judging if a keyword is worth targeting in organic search. For faster results which enable you to improve performance on your site quicker than SEO, Google AdWords is your friend.

As for why it’s more simple to use. PPC can be set and forget, whilst SEO requires consistent management and changes to keep up with the ever changing nature of it. AdWords is a really simple tool to use and is in one place, whereas SEO takes place with a variety of different software and complex tasks that require some training to understand.

2. Powerful Statistics

AdWords includes many statistics which you can measure campaigns by. Google gives you the freedom to pick and choose what metrics should be measured, giving you information as to what each does.

You are able to look at graphs, compare metrics against each other, link with Google Analytics and much more…

One of the most useful metrics Google has is quality score. This is used to measure keywords and ads. It influences the page rank and the CPC (cost per click) of an ad. It can be one of the best ways Google allows you to measure PPC campaigns by.

Having a lot of metrics to work with is good for the continuous development of a PPC campaign and website, giving a general sense of where improvements could be made. A keyword might not be working, bounce-rate may be too high etc.

3. Ability To Specify Who Sees Your Ads

A great way to save money in a PPC campaign is to only show ads to your target audience and not receive any wasted clicks by users who are not in the same area as your business.

Google AdWords gives you the simple settings to change devices targeted, Geo location and the exclusion of IP’s to help avoid wasting campaign money and reach your intended targeted audience.

4. Ad Creation Tool Is A Breeze To Use

AdWords makes it simple and intuitive to create ads. It gives you the guidelines to follow so that your ad meets Google’s standards and can be shown. Character limits are made clear and the ad preview lets you see what your creation will look like on the SERP (Search engine results page). If the ad doesn’t perform well, AdWords makes it easy to go back and make changes whenever you like.

If text ads are not what you require, the same intuitive treatment is applied to display and mobile ads as well.

Summary

Whether you do SEO, PPC or both. Google AdWords give you the tools necessary to create PPC campaigns that get clicks and convert. Of course SEO can’t be forgotten and shouldn’t be, but working alongside AdWords can help you become a real authority in your niche.

This is not a paid promotion for Google, these are just my personal reasons as to why I think Google AdWords is awesome and that doesn’t mean to say I think it is the only platform you should use. Everything has it’s good and bad points.

Let me know what you think about Google AdWords?

If you need a link to Google AdWords then look no further:

https://www.google.co.uk/adwords/

11 04, 2016

Creating A Great User Experience

By |2019-01-30T21:20:51+00:00April 11th, 2016|Website Design, Design|0 Comments

Find Out Why The User Experience Is King…

With all the different aspects of digital marketing taking up a lot of time (things like PPC, SEO and Social Media marketing). It’s easy to forget about an important factor that is easily overlooked, the (UX) user experience.

As a business working hard to drive traffic to a website, the ultimate goal is to guide that traffic to conversions of the product/service. Problems can arise when all the traffic being driven to the website is leaving after viewing one page (also known as bounce rate %). The main cause of this is poor landing page and/or website design in general, culminating in a poor user experience which makes users want to leave as quickly as they arrived.

What Constitutes A Poor User Experience?

There are many things that constitute to a bad UX. Here are some pointers that should be avoided if you don’t want a high bounce-rate:

  • Poorly designed navigation menus
  • Inconsistent structure
  • Unreadable font
  • non-relevant content
  • Little to no content on pages
  • Poor spelling and grammar

You may have come across a site before that ticks some of these boxes, maybe even all of them. But one things for sure, having the best PPC and SEO campaigns running means nothing if the UX makes you want to leave.

Making A Great User Experience

There is no right or wrong answer. One brands design and appeal might not work with driving traffic for another and so on. Here are some useful pointers:

  • Strong use of colours – Pick a main website colour that defines your brand but also fits with the theme of what you are offering. Also use secondary colours that fit into the scheme, on call-to-action buttons for example.
  • Intuitive site design – Make the user feel welcome, make them feel like they already know where everything is on the website. Clear and concise layout, use of helpful text, not too much and not too little content etc.
  • Well designed navigation menus – What are the different pages on the website, whats their purpose, are they easily accessible for the user, will the user find what they are looking for? If you can answer these questions then the website does an excellent job with navigation.
  • Legibility and readability – How easy it is for the user to read letters, words and phrases. Pick a consistent font that matches the theme of your website while also making sure it doesn’t put the user off.

One of the best examples that showcases excellent UX design is Apple. Clear navigation, strong use of colours that match their branding and clear, readable font are just some of the things that help the user to understand and make a clear choice when deciding whether to purchase an Apple product.

The Importance Great UX Design

I can’t stress enough the importance of the user experience. Imagine if you had a website and the amount of customers that have looked on it then went elsewhere after one page because of poor UX. Remember the goals of the business, then create a well designed website based on achieving those goals. A well designed user experience is always the first step to take when creating the website.

Remember, the first 10 seconds of a user arriving at a landing page on a site is the difference between turning that user into a customer or as another bounce-rate statistic, possibly leading to a bad reputation for you and the business. Don’t take a risk with the UX!

Conclusion

If you put yourself in the role of the user and visit plenty of websites for research, you will get to grips with spotting the good, the bad and probably the plain ugly of user experiences on the web.

Research, Research, Research is best the way to discover what works and what doesn’t. Keep the brand in mind when designing the site and get a good balance between graphics, navigation and readability. Once you have done that, then the serious work can begin on driving traffic through SEOPPC and Social Media.

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