Websites and SEO 101
This bit of advice is the Kickstarter for your interweb marketing and SEO journey. Nothing too complex. No theory/SEO wizardry - just the fundamentals you’re going to want to grips with as a business owner.
What
Is SEO?
Ok, I said no theory, but just to make sure we’re on the same page, Webster’s dictionary defines SEO as… blah blah blah! Look - It’s this simple:
People search for answers to their questions using Google (maybe Bing if they’re over 50),
They click on the links served to them in a Search Engine Results Page (called a SERP).
SEO is the process of making your pages and site appear in the SERP so customers find you and what you do.
Customers who arrive on your site via unpaid search are known as organic search traffic.
HOW
TO SEO
SEO used to be just/mainly about keywords (literally the words customers are searching for) and backlinks (other sites that link to yours which show you’re not sketchy). Now there’s a stack of other inputs (like, hundreds) into the algorithm to make sure the most relevant and useful responses to the customer’s search query come up.
How we influence page rank is a story for another time. It’s still helpful to know SEO is guided by to main processes that work together:
Technical SEO - how your page appears when Google’s page-crawling bots read it.
Content SEO - how well do you know your customer’s needs and how good are you at providing content that answers said needs?
The two work hand in hand. One makes sure you’re hitting the mark by providing relevant information. The other makes sure the relevant information is digestible, user friendly and importantly more recently - loading quickly and mobile friendly!
HOw
Metrics to track
Here’s the money shot. If I were coming into your business fresh to look at your online marketing and the impact of your website on your sales:
I'd be interested to see your traffic data split by source. If you need to isolate/exclude B2B or B2C customers, more on that below
I'd also want to see the traffic sources tied to a macro conversion goal like an enquiry form complete or click to call.
Then traffic by source to a micro conversion e.g. a brochure or e-book download.
This would show us what (if anything) is already working getting people to the site and converting them which we want to build on and avoid hindering.
If you hadn’t made any effort to send people to your website, I'd guess the bulk of traffic would be either organic or direct at the moment. Maybe some via email if you have any system-generated emails tagged properly and probably a bit of social and referral traffic if you’ve set those up.
How
Keywords
If the volume of organic search traffic/conversions are decent, it'd also be interesting to see which keywords customers are currently using to find and access your site. You can see that through Google Search Console if you don't have a SEMRush or SEOMoz subscription. Let’s be honest, if you’re reading a primer on SEO, you don’t have either of those. Google Search Console is free though!
How
SEO agencies
If you’re looking to raise the amount of organic traffic, you can speak to a marketing agency. There are many that specialise in SEO. If you’re working with one, you’ll want to know many things. Two of the main ones being:
How many keywords they're aiming to rank for (as part of this they’ll usually tune up your site to make it technically SEO proficient) and
If/how they're willing to provide direction for your content.
I know we've spoken quite a bit about content. If they're giving direction and producing/editing content that'll be a huge asset to you across the board.
Pro-Tip
Splitting out lower-value visitors
If your website serves a dual purpose (e.g. serving your customer’s customers like a logistics company would when customers are tracking parcels) you’ll want to separate the wheat from the chaff.
This will depend on the dynamics of your industry, but what you’ll sometimes see is a continuously higher volume of new users and a session count which is similar to the count is to users/new users.
There could be to ways to split out B2C/B2B traffic:
Tagging the product pages (i.e. the ones you want potential customers to visit) and only counting the users/sessions that hit those pages.
Or the inverse of that, isolate and exclude consumers if they visit a consumer-specific page(s) e.g. a 'track my parcel' page if you’re in logistics, or equivalent.
This wouldn't be a perfect science and if you have some automation or CRM marketing kit tracking leads that's a far more reliable option, even if it doesn't give us the depth of information.
SUMMARY
SEo for beginners
Think very strategically about your efforts with SEO. If you’re in a limited geography or have a super-targeted audience, SEO isn’t something you necessarily need to focus on. Why? Because there are likely other more effective (read, direct) ways to find customers. Investment SEO relies a lot on volume. That being said if you know your customer well enough you should be producing content for them which answers their needs. SEO is just another way to find them - or more accurately help them find you.