Let's start with SEO otherwise know as search engine optimisation, in terms of value for money your website should be search engine optimized. In a nutshell it means your website is categorised for the correct search terms for your business which requires research into your industry, for example a customer maybe looking for a local accountancy firm, chances are they would type in one of the search engines the term 'accountancy firm birmingham' the websites on the first page of the search results usually get a fair share of customers clicking to view their website and depending on how the website is constructed, it may lead to an enquiry or better still a sale or subscription.

So the first thing we need to look at is keyword research, keyword research is about finding the most relevant set of words for your industry, words that your potential customers would use to find the products or services you offer.

Once we have found a set of keywords lets say 25 - 50 different combinations, we then drill down to the most relevant and less competitve keywords. The reason we look for the least competitve keywords is because the more competitve keywords for your industry require a huge marketing budget to take on the big boys which can run into thousands of pounds, which is something we would rather you avoid.

Just because they spend this kind of budget, it does not mean their ROI is high, larger organisations usually throw money away like this for brand awarness and lost leader purposes.

Does that mean you cannot compete, no of course it doesn't, it means we have to be more smarter, larger organisation cannot more as quickly as smaller organisation.

Once we have found the keywords, the next step is to ensure these keywords are strategically placed on each page of your website and the structure of your website follow the right path to join them all together, this is what we call onsite marketing. Offsite marketing is where it all happens, the best way to describe this is, is to refer to an academic book. When you are studying have you ever notice paragraphs that have references next to them and then you go to the back of the book usually known as the bibliography and you find out the full information where the referenced paragraph came from, chances are you'll go out and order that book or visit the library to investigate further.

Well this is similar to offsite marketing, the whole aim is to have other sites refer to your site on the keywords we researched, you may have a press release, or an article worthy of another website in a parallel line of business publishing a paragraph of your article and referring their visitors to your website for more information.

This is a crucial method to search engines as it allows them to see a connection and relevance between websites in related industries with connected keywords. Search engines are based on logics so why would it be logical if your website is selling electrial goods but all the websites refering to your website are based on religon.

So to summarise:

Search Engine Optimisation is important, it's not the be all and end all but it does make a difference and the keywords you choose will determined if you reach your goal or not. You have to build on solid foundations or you will have to start over, possible wasting money and time.

If you would like us to help your website we offer a free website audit click here for more information.