Search Engines

The Quintessentially British Guide to Quality Content for Business Websites

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Quality Content

Greetings, fellow entrepreneurs! In the age of digital tea and scones, having an online presence as vibrant as a summer’s day in the Cotswolds is essential for businesses of all shapes and sizes, even for those nestled in the charming nooks and crannies of the UK. Today, we’ll spill the tea on what represents quality content on business websites, and how you can make yours stand out like a proud red phone box. So, buckle up, grab your cuppa, and let’s dive into this jolly good adventure!

Relevant Keywords: The Perfect Blend of Service and Location

First things first, let’s talk about keywords. Just like a splendid cup of Earl Grey, the right blend of relevant keywords can make your website truly delightful. To help potential customers find your business, it’s essential to include keywords specific to both your services and location. For example, if you own a lovely B&B in the Lake District, using keywords like “Lake District B&B” or “Lake District bed and breakfast” will ensure your establishment pops up when people search for a cosy place to rest their heads.

Video Content: The Ultimate Showstopper

Did you know that videos are the most engaging format for communication? In fact, they’re as captivating as a well-performed Morris dance. By incorporating video content on your website, you can showcase your business in a more dynamic and personal way. So, whether you create a virtual tour of your countryside inn or share behind-the-scenes footage of your artisan bakery, video content can make your website a true showstopper.

Quantity and Readability: The Great British Balancing Act

Finally, we can’t talk about quality content without addressing the delicate balance between quantity and readability. While it’s true that having a good amount of content is essential for search engine optimisation (SEO), one mustn’t overdo it like an overenthusiastic village fête organiser. Too much text can make your website seem cluttered, and nobody wants to wade through an ocean of words to find the information they need.

To master the great British balancing act, focus on creating clear, concise, and informative content. Use headings and bullet points to make your text easy to navigate, and always remember that quality trumps quantity. After all, a well-written, informative paragraph can be more effective than an entire page of waffle!

Dispelling SEO Myths – SEO in Lincolnshire

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online content marketing SEO

Today’s blog and accompanying video is aimed at dispelling a few myths! We have been providing SEO in Lincolnshire for years and feel it’s time to forget these myths once and for all.

I often explain to clients that as far as we are aware, there is over 250 ranking factors in the google search engine. The purpose of explaining this is to demonstrate that SEO needs to be taken very seriously. Over the years people have often asked me to take care of ranking factors that do not exist. Often based on a misguided understanding of out of date SEO techniques, or perhaps assuming that Google Analytics metrics are all ranking factors.

Bounce Rate

A good example of these mythical ranking factors would be the bounce rate of a website. This An important metric for analysing visitor activity, however not a ranking factor. This is the percentage of visitors that leave a web page without taking an action such as clicking a link or ordering a product. If this were true that google had made this a ranking factor, we would have to believe that Google can analyse this data across all of the websites ranked in the search engine but we know this not to be the case. As an experiment I could build a website and attract many organic visitors and track their visitor on visitor data on the server but Google has no access to this data until provided it and even if we were then to provide access for google analytics, the search engine still wouldn’t be able to compare that data as a ranking factor against many other websites, because they simply won’t all use google analytics.

Website Visits & Visit Duration

Another example would be directly visiting the website to boost SEO or even spending longer periods of time on the website to boost SEO. This idea suggests that more people doing these things would increase the ranking of the website when of course again that information would only be available to google if we provided it. Even this, would still exclude most of the internet not using google analytics, and people accessing their websites directly.

SEO in Lincolnshire – It’s all local!

Now for a quick reminder of the REAL SEO ranking factors. For example mobile friendliness, good social media coverage and consistent optimised content updates. Many businesses will find it beneficial to write their content around a keyphrase that includes your service/product and location. This has often proved to be a helpful search term recipe for Lincolnshire based businesses. For a visual recap of some of the content above, watch the video below. If you aren’t sure where to start, contact us. I’ve got lots of tips and tools to help but also often the most important thing is just knowing who to speak to and where to get the right advice.

Website Reports and Analytics – Data Matters!

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reports and analytics

If website reports and analytics go straight over your head, we want to tell you about some of the valuable information you can track and why it matters. Monitoring and analysing your website traffic is often surprisingly revealing, and free!

Key Data and Functions

  • Social Visitors: For a start, if you need to know what social media platforms generate the most traffic, you can track the source of your visitors. If you don’t see many social media sourced visitors, it might be time to start posting more frequently. This is particularly valuable if you are paying for advertising campaigns.
  • Product/Service Performance: Perhaps you are selling products on your website. For Ecommerce websites, you can check your ecommerce product performance for poor converting products. Writing additional relevant content for your lower performing products could help competing for search engine rankings. The same applies to product/service based websites without a checkout facility. The same analysis will allow you to determine lower performing pages.
  • Annual Benchmarking: Compare performance with previous years. This is a great way of determining if you need to step up your search engine optimisation. The date selector contains a ‘compare’ option to simplify the process.
  • Context Annotations: Keep a timeline of key events using report annotations. Key events could include press releases, advertising campaigns, holidays, blog updates and other significant changes in the business/website. This gives context to changes in viewership that can allow you to better judge changes in your marketing strategy.
  • Valuable Projections: Add value to your business with historic analytics data. Supposing you wish to sell your business or attract new investors, a record of growth in your historic analytics data can add to the strength of your projections for business growth. The data also demonstrates an otherwise difficult to value google ranking and organic traffic.

Where to start with Website Reports and Analytics

To get started, give us a call on 01775 761512 or visit Google Analytics to setup your integration. We recommend this service to all of our clients. Since its launch in 2005 by Google, this free analytics service has become the most used on the internet.

Search Term Trends – SEO You Need To Know

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We recently featured a video on our social media profiles to show our customers a great trick for simply finding the best search terms for their SEO and content.

In this blog, we are going to go even further to explain what to do and why this matters for your business.

Analysing a search term for SEO is easy!

Let's get started by considering what search terms you believe you would expect people to type into Google to look for businesses like yours. In the video, I used the example of a bookshop. Four terms stood out as being the most expected search terms:

  • Bookshop
  • Book shop
  • Bookstore
  • Book store

We also analyse the popularity of terms in our own industry. It has been important for us to compare terms like 'Logo design' to 'Graphic Design' or 'Website Design' to 'Web Design'.

Now compare the terms using the Google Trends website (trends.google.com).

With this data, you can easily determine the most popular search term. This may not actually represent the highest value search term for your business however. If the search term is highly popular but there are significantly more search results for that term than others, it may be possible to find an easier route to the top. This can be done by comparing search results with the next most popular search term.

In the bookshop example it was quickly discovered that 'bookshop' is the most popular search term, and conveniently this happens to be the least competed for search term. The results below show the term followed by the number of results in the search engine:

 

Results data

 

This is the best result possible for SEO and content marketing, as it will now confirm that 'bookshop' is the highest value search term. The next step for many people will be to analyse every possible combination of terms that could be interchangeable in the search engine. Perhaps you need to compare your service terminologies or even a common misspelling/American spelling?

It's important to understand that without analysis like this, you could be spending time and money on the wrong content and keywords. If you need help taking your content and SEO to the next level, we can conduct more in depth analysis for your business or even put some of this valuable data into practice with your SEO. For more support contact us.

Struggling to write content for your new or existing website?

If you're happy with your keywords but struggling to write new content, you should check out our other recent video on writing hundreds of words of content quickly and easily.

Advert Landing Pages – Website Design Tips

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Did you know you should be creating a specific landing page for every ad campaign?

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at why landing pages are so important for your adverts.

Many advertisers only focus on the ads themselves when creating campaigns. Many businesses focus on ensuring that their ads comply with advertising policies. However if you create and engaging enough ad, you will generate visitors to a page on your website.  Never miss the opportunity to take advantage of being able to create a perfect website landing pages, registration pages, squeeze pages, sales pages, or whatever you might call it.

You can create highly targeted ads that quickly build your mailing list, offer free consultations, coupon codes, events, giveaways/competitions, and many other incentives but the process has to be clear. You have guided customers to a page, now you must guide them through their next steps.

To avoid a low conversion rate, don’t force customers to search for the product or content they are looking for. Don’t use generic website pages or irrelevant landing pages that are specifically targeting your ad visitors.

A good website today is not necessarily one that is well planned or has a trendy design. The focus has shifted to clarity and content. You can draw inspiration from the latest trends, but make sure your design choices are based not only on your preferences. The focus should be on decisions that positively influence your customers’ behaviour.

So, What Is A Good Landing Page?

– A video that explaining the product/service
– A simple and prominent call to action button (buy, get a quote, contact us etc)
– A live chat function with an on hand sales representative
– A selection of reviews, partners and awards

Website Ads Support – Find us in Spalding

Give us a call if you’re still struggling. Drive By Websites Ltd can help you build website landing pages, create Pay Per Click campaigns, design bespoke graphics, and send mailshots. Whatever you need, we’re here to help. Give us a call on 01775 761512, contact us online or visit us at 14 Bear Lane, Pinchbeck, Spalding, Lincolnshire PE11 3XA.

Adding Value To Your Website – From One Page To Ecommerce

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online content marketing SEO

It can undoubtedly be difficult to generate new content on the same topics regularly, but we are here to remind you of a few different ways to keep your site ranking highly in Google without always covering the same ground. Some suggestions might be new to you and as always we’re here to help. Here are a few suggestions for how to rethink your website content:

  • In 2021, YouTube is quickly becoming one of the most valuable marketing platforms to share useful or engaging content with returning/potential customers. Social video content in general is easily accessible on mobile devices without the extra effort of reading or scrolling. The same is true of your website. By connecting relevant search terms to your video and connecting the content to your website, customers can discover and follow your other content and website offerings.
  • You can use your website to help limit unpredictable customer service costs such as time spent answering social media enquiries or answering calls. With this your website can help provide a service to your customers and the business itself. As an example, Frequently asked questions (FAQ) areas can be a lot of work to write but will inevitably save time and money for your business.
  • Social media content is a perfect microcosm for your target customers to help determine the effectiveness and engagement of certain topics and content. With those valuable social media insights, you can expand on topics across your website and wider social network. From there, including prominent social sharing facilities on your website content is necessary to maximise the potential for visitors to share and attract new visitors.
  • You might think of writing relevant and engaging content as the only factor in achieving maximum value for money for your advertising and marketing, however your website can turn viewers into followers by offering newsletter subscriptions, coupon/discount sign ups and membership areas. A few simple tools on your website can even make this remarkably simple.
  • Social Giveaways can be vastly more engaging on social media than traditional content and fortunately it can be just as simple to write in valuable search terms and keywords for optimising your website. Services such as kingsumo actually make it even simpler to create landing pages for your giveaways that can attract entries for likes, follows, shares and email sign ups. With a bit of integration to your website, you’ll soon be able to regularly generate hundreds of extra followers and mailing list subscribers for little extra effort or expense than traditional content marketing.

Don’t leave your visitors hanging around or bouncing off your site, spend some time extracting as much value as possible from your website visitors.

Is Content Still King in 2021?

Over half of UK marketing companies prioritise blogging as their primary content marketing strategy. Clearly generating leads online is considerably easier when producing engaging and relevant content. When this is combined with other relevant value adding strategies such as the above examples, the process of acquiring and converting visitors into customers on your website has never been as effortless. It all starts with relevant original content. If you’re struggling to generate new ideas or exposure to the right demographics, we can help with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or implementing techniques such as those above. For businesses that are actively exploring content marketing opportunities, give us a call on 01775 761512 or contact us online.

SEO, Social Marketing, Lincolnshire Content Marketing, Business in Lincolnshire SEO

Get Competitive on your Website Homepage

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homepage SEO impact

You probably already know that your website homepage gets the most views. That's why it is so fundamental to the success of your website. Making an impressive, speedy and competitive homepage might not be as tough as you think. We have made a few simple suggestions below to help you reimagine your homepage content.

For more information or help getting started with homepage improvements, please contact us.

Is It Too Late To Upgrade? Websites in 2020

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website upgrade covid

Our blog earlier this year, ‘Redevelop and Remain Productive‘, was intended to remind people that it’s never been more important to have an up to date website. The opening line reads:

“If you find yourself debating how you will remain productive during this difficult period, we suggest you start with your website.”

As we head into 2021, I am confident your business will continue to face new challenges with the same resilience that so many of our clients have. However, if you did not get round to your website, perhaps your competitors did?

It might be time to take a look over your competition online and check you’re still on the cutting edge. If you aren’t providing sufficient opportunity for your customers to help you through this difficult period, your business and Google ranking will suffer. We have been helping our clients analyse their competition from around the country in order to help keep them focus their priorities. While different sectors vary greatly, there has been a huge uptake in instant engagement systems.

Businesses that had previously focused their attention on social media adapted incredibly well, with many find opportunities for higher engagement. Examples of this were offerings of support into their communities. These contributions to support causes and charities were exposed to a captive audience over the lockdown and for many this was perfect advertising. That heightened engagement carried over to websites, with many more businesses using integrated social media messaging and live chat systems.

Businesses that had not previously used social media or had neglected it are finding their customer engagement is still not returning to normal. Expanding your online offering could be one of the simplest ways to adapt to the changing times. We can take care of all of your requirements and make it as simple as possible for your team to adjust to.

“We might not be running if our website wasn’t ready before the lockdown and we just wanted to say how thankful we are. You took us out of the dark ages!”

A live chat facility offers a simple faceless contact window for website visitors to acquire quick answers to their questions. If you are not available to answer these live chat queries, you could opt for an Automated Chat Bot. These are growing very popular on websites and Facebook pages. The information you can capture from these passing customers may be very valuable to your business. It will also help you improve your website as customers will inform you where your content could be improved.

If you rather speaking to your customers, there’s an option for that too. Smartphone users are very unlikely to scroll down and read a whole load of content wording and then send you an email, especially if there’s a lengthy form to complete. Because your mobile visitors are already holding their phone, allow them to call you with one simple touch of the button. No more copy-and-pasting or memorising the phone number for your customers.

Here To Help

If you’re short of ideas, we’re here to help. The generic advice we post on our blog relates to as many businesses and organisations as possible. We can provide highly specific advice based on your customers needs and competitor analysis. Contact us for more information on how you can enhance and improve your website.

Website Designer Spalding

Boston Website Development

SEO News: Record Daily Searches On Privacy Search Engine

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DuckDuckGo – the privacy-enhanced search engine – reaches record daily searches

DuckDuckGo has been on our radar for a few years as we believe internet users deserve privacy. Companies are making money off of you, your search data  and your private information online, without your consent.

Since the recent Facebook data scandal, we are not surprised that a browser like DuckDuckGo is making growth. What you search for should be your own business. Getting the privacy you deserve online should be as simple as closing the blinds.

The privacy driven search engine recently posted that it has reached a new high, at 30 million searches per day on average. The company said: “It took seven years to reach 10 million searches in one day. To get to 20 million searches, it took another two years. Now, less than a year later, it is now at 30 million searches per day.”

What does this mean for SEO?

DuckDuckGoDuckDuckGo is an important competitor to Google, Bing and other search engines that actively collect user data for advertising.

Compared Google’s billions of daily searches, DuckDuckGo doesn’t need to be a priority for website ranking. However, with the Facebook data Scandal and the new General Data Protection Regulation, privacy-centric services could be appropriate for the right business. Businesses dealing with security, adult services/products and legal services could all benefit from considering the value of a privacy enhanced search engine.

We’ll be keeping our eye on this developing search engine territory. If our would like to know how to enhance your browsing privacy or prioritising your website ranking in this search engine then contact us.

Making Progress with Website Content – Refreshing a Site

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Google Trends

SEO is about asking the right questions

It’s tough to stay inspired when it comes to updating your website but a few basic questions might help get you started. Maybe rethinking the content you want on the site is enough to inspire whole pages of valuable new content to be ranked in Google. This is search engine gold. 

Our clients (primarily in Spalding, Peterborough, Boston, Bourne and Holbeach) often forget that they have assumed their main keywords are taking priority in their content. Unless deliberately added, this is often the case. You can avoid this by asking, ‘What keywords are used the most?’. If you then follow this up by adding or reinforcing the true priority keywords in your content, this will dramatically improve your google ranking. 

Another area that clients assume is certain service based information that they provide on a daily basis, but new customers won’t be familiar with. Issues like this can be highlighted by asking, ‘What information is missing/assumed?’. I have seen some clients miss hundreds and hundreds of valuable words on their first draft by assuming their customer will fill in the blanks. 

Finally, the toughest question to tackle is, ‘What keywords are actually ranking in google?’. You can find this by using google search results and analysing your ranking. A more accurate overview could be acquired on Google Analytics. You can rate the quality of those keywords against each other (or other potential keyword additions) by using the Google Trends analysis. I’ve created a demonstration by comparing ‘Keyword’ and ‘Search Term’ (two keywords for this post). Visit Google Trends Demo

Mastering tools like this will allow you to prioritise the right keywords for your audience. For any of the above e are obviously happy to help. We regularly advise our clients on how they can improve their content in ways like this. Ultimately, your customers don’t need to think you’re and up and coming author, but you should be able to make some regular improvements with your website content by asking questions like this. 

 Here are some other website content questions:

Is the content localised adequately? (so search engines can place you at those locations)

Could you criticise this content on a competitor website?

Have you highlighted your strengths in comparison to your competitors?

Writing new original content

If you’re looking for information on how to write brand new original content for your site we also have some information to help. For more information and content writing tips, visit our recent blog: Check out our content writing tips