B2B SEO

 

SEO is an effective online marketing strategy for any type of business. Even big corporations and well-known brands use SEO to reach their target consumers.  However, the level of SEO complexity does not correlate to the size of the company who the market is. There is a big difference between B2C SEO and B2B SEO, the latter being the more complex of the two.

SEO is much more complicated when you are trying to promote a B2B or a service company.  Basic SEO requires a certain degree of balance between creativity, and technical savvy.  But when you are using SEO to effectively market a business service, you will have to add in the right amount of business psychology and a flair for intelligent communication.

This is because with B2B SEO, copy writers are trying to connect with a group of people with a certain kind of mindset, whose decisions are never based on impulse but on careful study and evaluation.  It is one thing to try and spark interest for the manager and quite another if you are targeting the purchaser.  It is the SEO’s job to influence both, as well as everyone within the organization whose opinion matter when it comes to the business’ purchasing decision.  Complicated as this may seem, it can be done but it is only half the job. 

The other side of the SEO for B2B/business service is dealing with the technicalities and the complicated algorithms of search engines.  The recent developments in the world or search engine algorithms are content share-ability and like-ability.  A website’s copy should be interesting enough that netizens are compelled to take action and like and even share the link/website. Search engines perceive these actions as added points in the relevance meter relating to certain keywords being searched. 

Now here lies the difficulty, the most “liked”, “shared” and “tweeted” sites are usually related to fashion and entertainment.  Sites or content that relate to business such as taxes, accounting, marketing usually do not have the right elements that is social media users are eager to share. 

The idea is to write a copy, create a slide, video or infographics that are clever enough or valuable enough to be passed along the social mediadom. It should also be adequately compelling to be noticed by the target audience – the business decision makers – and effectively convert them from visitors to clients. 

It’s a tough job but it is not impossible.  What you need is an SEO team who understands the dynamics of the whole process – who is mindful of the ultimate objective and has the means and expertise to achieve those objectives.  

The Google Dilemma – Why Doesn't Google Like My Site?

Google search result page one is the most coveted real estate online especially for businesses that have their eyes set on a marketing plan that involves traffic that is organically generated. In the past few years however, Google has made improvements in their search algorithms (namely Panda and Penguin Updates) that aim to provide the best and most relevant search results for their users. It has drastically changed the way SEO is done and a good number of websites either dropped in ranking or was completely dropped (penalized) by Google. 

If you have lost the site traffic you once had because of the Google Updates, here is a list of  the most probable reasons why you are not ranking or why Google or has penalized your site. The list is also for webmasters who have ranking issues or who wants to avoid being penalized in the future.

1.       Keyword Overuse – This refers to content with high keyword density (keywords appearing too many times) and keywords used as anchor text over and over.  There was a time when SEO was all about the keywords and links – what used to be the reason for achieving ranking goals is now the reason why the website falls behind. 

2.       Poor or Thin Quality Content - the search algorithms nowadays apparently are able to detect articles that are irrelevant.  It can distinguish between content that are written simply to for the links created and content that are written to inform and make sense. 

3.       Making use of Traditional Article Marketing – If your site gets its inbound links from the same article viscously spun over and over then distributed over dozens of sites, you website is likely to be penalized.  Somehow the Google bots have found a way to detect websites that use spam-like strategies to generate backlinks.

4.       Link exchange - A few relevant exchanges make sense but aggressively doing it is bad for business.

5.       All Flash and Images but No Content – while graphics, images are very entertaining and engaging, it does little in ranking because search engine crawlers index the texts on the site.

6.       Indexing Errors – It may all be just technical errors – missing or broken links, the disallow line on robot.txt etc.  So do not panic, do a little website housekeeping first before doing major renovations. 

7.       Hiring Cheap SEO – It is the most common mistake. Most SEO who offer low rates use fast and easy link building techniques that are usually more costly to clean up. If you wish to outsource your SEO needs, sign-up with a SEO team who are transparent in their strategies and adhere to webmaster guidelines.

It is obvious that Google is pushing for the better and more relevant sites to rank higher so that their users get what they are searching for. This then pushes everyone who wishes to take advantage of the search engine’s influence by setting up websites that are of better quality and more useful content.

References:

http://www.phriskweb.com.au/blog

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/webmasters/au6eqapfOBU

http://www.ecommercefuel.com/seo-mistakes-organic-traffic/

http://www.ecommercefuel.com/ecommerce-marketing-strategies/

http://moz.com/ugc/8-reasons-why-your-site-might-not-get-indexed

Google Search Result Pages – Why It Matters

This one is for the newbies.

A few years ago, a small group of entrepreneurs were invited to a talk regarding online marketing and why it is an inevitable advancement that can no longer be ignored.  Small businesses have thrived for years using conventional marketing strategies but technological developments have changed market behavior drastically. The market is getting more tech savvy every minute – and gadgets get smarter as they get smaller, browsing and shopping online is now more commonplace than ever.

Now, you may imagine that the said group of entrepreneurs found themselves completely overwhelmed – some even have an aversion to opening an email account because they might break something somewhere and it will cost them an arm and a leg.  And if you are like these entrepreneurs, what I am about to say will come as a surprise.  Here is the truth – having an online store or a business website is the beginning but that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  But before anyone goes on a panic attack, here is another truth – internet marketing it is not rocket science.  If you have managed to pull off running your small business, then learning and understanding internet commerce is not a big deal.   I am not saying that reading a few How-To articles will get you the website traffic that you want but it will ensure better planning with your marketing manager or SEO service provider.

The Search Engines

            In the beginning, there were five – Yahoo!, Google, Bing, Alta Vista and MSN.  Then there’s three, Google being the most used search engine and Bing and Yahoo! coming into second.  Search engines are the gateway into the daily internet experience, and what the SRPs (search engine result page) say will dictate where the internet user goes. The goal is to get your website URL on the first page of the search results, because there is a perceived relevance to the first few results. Google has worked hard in the past few years to give the most relevant results for every keyword searched and these innovations have placed Google on top of the search engine race.

Keyword Searches and Web Content

          Search engine results are dictated by the keywords typed into the search box.  This is why keywords are so important in writing the content of your website. And the choice of keywords is crucial to get you on page one of the SRPs.  The idea is to identify what word, phrase or group of words your target user/customer is most likely to type in when looking for a product or service that you provide.  Once the intended user gets to your website, it is the magic that was done by the web designer and developer that will ensure that your visitor converts into your customer and hopefully a regular one.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization

          SEO is just one of a number of marketing strategies available today. It is the strategy most small businesses employ because it is the most cost-effective.  As the term implies, SEO means to optimize your website or landing page so that search engines especially Google, consider it a high ranking page and therefore listed on page 1 or 2 of the SRPs.

Making Your Investment Do Its Job

          Setting up a business website, especially if it’s an online store is a big investment, and the costs should be justified by the income it makes.  In the world of e-commerce, generating substantial online traffic is the next and crucial step after creating the website, otherwise, consider your website a classified ad entry on a little known national newspaper – you know it’s there, but no one else does. 

Why You Need Search Engine Optimisation - For Your Online Business infographic

References and links:

http://www.google.com/business/placesforbusiness/

http://googlecommerce.blogspot.com/

http://seoquestionandanswer.blogspot.com.au/

The Case of the Dodgy Tradesman

 

There has been troubling reports about dodgy tradies and con-artists that get away with a lot of money for jobs not done or work that is utterly sub-standard it’s bordering on dangerous or potentially hazardous.  Despite media reports that are supposed to create awareness and prevent these tradies from deceiving un-suspecting clients, there are still some who get away with it.  It really is not surprising because some of these tradies have done their homework on the art of deceit and there are those who are downright charming, they’ll evade your request for an ABN number.  In this case, in order NOT to be conned – information is your means of protection.

1.       The Dodgy Tradie goes around offering their services.  If someone knocks on your door and tells you that you “need” something fixed, then you are most likely talking to a dodgy tradie.  The good ones do not have time to go around scoping neighborhoods, they are usually booked from one job to another.

2.       They evade questions on permits, licenses and insurances. They may be charming at first but they get intimidating when they are confronted and especially when they do not get what they want.  So do not even ask them for it.  Go online and straight to the Business Checker website and see if their company is listed and if they have at least a satisfactory rating – a high rating is better.

3.       They do not have referrals.  Dodgy tradies give you their previous clients because they are likely to give negative comments. If they do give you a list, ask specific questions on the type of work done and why you they think they did a good job.  Happy customers usually are happy to answer your questions. 

4.       They usually want to be paid up front.  If there is a need for down-payments and a good tradie will always be willing to negotiate, the dodgy tradie just gets upset altogether. It is also advisable that for work that is over $12,000 you may request for only 10% down payment.

5.       Good work never comes cheap.  Skill, experience and hard work usually come with a price and giving out a discount upfront means you may be getting the losing end of the deal.  Dodgy tradies usually gives outrageous discounts because they do not intend to work at all.

Remember that it is better to think twice before you dole out your hard earned savings.  It is even better to not go into any transaction before you are assured that will be getting the best deal both for your builder and you.  Do not be afraid to ask questions and ask authorities about you rights.  It is a bigger headache to complain after the damage is done.

Good tradies are not hard to find, you just need to know where to look.

Visit these sites for more information:

http://www.businesschecker.com.au/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZRWqGcNmnw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwbA8o-V4bk

http://www.accc.gov.au/

http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/About_us/Online_services/Mobile_apps/Scam_Buster.page?

Insight That Matters – Understanding Your Customers

Any business, no matter how small requires tenacity, creativity, endless curiosity and the need to be one step ahead of both your competitor and your customer – all of which are crucial to the company’s long term sustainability.    This is the reason why big companies spend between 2% to 10% on marketing research.  This however is usually not the case for existing small businesses.  It is also one of the reasons why most small businesses have not evolved and are forced to close down because of the competition coming in from big –well funded and well-resourced companies.  Remember the movie “You’ve Got Mail” ? … It’s not just a love story.

What most small businesses do not know is that there is a whole new market out there waiting to be served.  Likewise, there are new technologies that help them reach that market.  The local store now has the potential to go global and be able to have costumer insight that used to take months plus a lot of resources to acquire. 

The power of marketing is being able to know what customers want to buy based on their behavior. Because doing business is not just about what you want to sell but more importantly what your market needs.  The data provided by Google Analytics (for online businesses) and Prism Skylab (for physical businesses offer what are aptly called as business intelligence at your fingertips. What used to be a grueling task of gathering relevant information is now literally in the palm of your hands. 

Prism Skylab

Prism Skylab is described as a “global leader in managing, analyzing and optimizing offline commerce”. With the use of cloud technology, they make use of any surveillance or video camera in your stores into a managing and data gathering system that can be accessed from any laptop, smart phone or tablet.   Data provided range from foot traffic, length of visit, and purchases which gives you a better understanding of how store lay-out, product placement and time affect your customers and their decisions to purchase.

Google Analytics

 

Google has transformed itself into a resource powerhouse and clearly their main goal is to provide the best experience for the internet user who is their main client.  And to achieve that goal they provide webmasters with the right tools to create the best website possible.   Google Analytics provides insight into the behavior and profile of online visitors in your site – essential data that help you develop a site that coverts visitors into buyers and regular customers.

The world is definitely getting smaller and everything changes faster than ever.  Capturing your market’s attention gets even harder because there are so many choices available to them.  This is why it is important that if they do step into your store or land on your page, it is crucial that your store or website has what they need and that it has what it takes to keep them coming back for more.

References:

https://www.crunchbase.com/company/prism-skylabs

http://www.google.com/analytics/index.html