Author Archives: Sarah Hickman

How do I improve my website content? Just copy Star Wars

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Website content Star Wars

What story is your website telling about your business?

The trick to finding this out is to put yourself in your customers' shoes. Customers usually visit your About Us page first, and then move on to your Case Studies or Portfolio page to check out what you've done for other customers. Your Case Studies page can help convince people that your company will be a good fit for them.

Your Case Studies need a story; a list of bullet points isn't good enough. Bullet points miss out the 'juicy bits', for example if you're a web designer, its useful to talk about the initial situation (perhaps how awful the previous website was!), the fact that it was built from scratch, how happy the client is now, etc.

Before you start writing the story, think about who you're talking to. Who are they, and what do you want them to buy? It's useful to create a 'persona': who are they, where do they live, what keeps them awake at night, what do they worry about, how much do they already know about possible solutions?

A great way to connect with people is to write about 'The Hero's Journey'. The Hero's Journey is a classic storytelling method, used in countless films like Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. George Lucas used this format when he created Star Wars. Here it is in outline:

1. The status quo: the hero is living in the normal world, but thinks there must be more to life.
Luke Skywalker lives a quiet life with his aunt and uncle.
This is the background of the 'ordinary life' of your client.

2. Call to adventure: the hero faces a situation that could alter the status quo.
Luke finds Princess Leia's message.
What led the client to contact you? Was it a problem that they can't address themselves? A supply issue perhaps, or a lack of knowledge in a particular area?

3. The hero finds a mentor.
Luke meets Obi Wan Kenobi.
The client meets you. (You should make the client the hero - you are the mentor).
Talk about how you and the client got together, and remember that the client initiated the change, even though you actually did the work.

4. Challenges on the journey.
Luke joins the rebellion and faces multiple battles and adventures.
This is the most important section of your Case Study.
Challenges make a compelling story. Each challenge is a mini story in itself:
- The challenging obstacle
- The inspired solution
- Repeat...
Talk about how you worked with the client to solve their problems. Mention any hazards in your way, for example tight timescales, legal constraints, lack of budget, and changing requirements.
If you can see any themes in your challenges, group them together. Between three and six challenges should suffice. So by the end of this section, you have showcased your services AND shown how great you are to work with!

5. Triumph – the victorious hero returns.
Luke destroys the Death Star and returns to a hero's welcome.
What were the outcomes? For example when was the work delivered? Was it delivered on time and to budget? Do you have a continuing relationship and future plans?

Don't forget that the client is the hero, not you. You are the mentor. So think of yourself as Obi Wan Kenobi!

Some other considerations:
1. Include testimonials (either on the Case Studies page, or on a separate Testimonials page).
These are powerful, as you can demonstrate a direct link to the 'hero' to establish the truth of the story.

2. Highlight your case study with headings. Don't use big blocks of text as this will deter people from reading on.

3. Include some great pictures.

4. If your client has requested confidentiality, you can use this as one of your selling points. You can still tell your story without actually naming the hero or their business.

Writing compelling words for people is one of things we do best. If you need a few words (or lots of them) for your website, brochure or other marketing materials, get in touch to find out how we can help.

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Email marketing – our own top tips

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Email marketing tips

Why is email marketing a vital tool for small businesses? Mainly because it's fast and cheap. But that's not all - email marketing offers opportunities to directly target messages to the right people at the right time.

Email marketing can present some pitfalls, however. Random and constant emailing will be seen as spam. You must have permission to email the recipient, and if you want people to respond positively, you must send messages that are genuinely of value to them.

Here are some top tips we've gleaned from our own experience of email marketing.

Sign-up tips

  • Avoid asking for unnecessary information. For example, you don't need to ask for postal addresses. When people are confronted with this they are more likely to drop out.
  • Make it eye-catching on your website, e.g. by using a pop-up or an envelope symbol.
  • What's the hook? People need a reason to sign up. Tell them what to expect from being on your newsletter list. You could incentivise it, e.g. offer a free online course or white paper, or perhaps a discount code if you run an eCommerce site.

What should I send?

  • Research your competitors. This can be very valuable. Look for things that your competitors aren't doing, or are doing badly. Sign up for lots of newsletters and use those ideas for inspiration (but we're not encouraging you to plagiarise!).
  • Hold back some unique content. If you share identical content across all your marketing communications including your newsletter, customers will find little value in it and may unsubscribe.

How to write it

  • Think about your audience and write as if you are addressing just one person.
  • Don't make it too long, and be concise.
  • Break copy into chunks.
  • Think about what you intend the user to do at the end of it. What action do you want them to take?
  • Keep it relevant.

Good email practice

  • Get consent – opting in is a legal requirement, although many businesses see an exchange of business cards as permission.
  • Don't email too often.
  • Check if you need ICO registration. You can complete a self-assessment quiz on the ICO website.
  • Avoid using your own email client such as Outlook or Gmail - deliverability can be reduced, especially if you're on shared server. It's better to use a sending service such as MailChimp.
  • Do list housekeeping. This helps to cut the volume of non-openers.
  • Make unsubscribe very easy. This is another legal requirement. If people can't find your unsubscribe link they will mark your email as spam - and that will ultimately count against you.
  • If using images, keep file sizes small.
  • Use personalisation, at a minimum the recipient's first name. As well as being polite, this helps to start a positive relationship.
  • Plan your activity. This prevents you from repeating yourself.

It's worth taking a bit of time to think about what you're doing (and why) before you hit that 'Send' button. Follow some of our tips above and you're more likely to get a higher open rate and avoid the spam folder. And our best tip: only send when you have something of value to say.

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Marketing your business using social media: LinkedIn

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LinkedIn marketing

So many of us are on LinkedIn nowadays, but it's not just the place to go when you're job hunting. Did you know what a powerful (and free) tool it can be for marketing your small business?

Here's a brief beginner's guide to marketing your business on LinkedIn...

Why use it?
● Over 300 million users worldwide.
● More decision makers than Twitter.
● 227% more effective than Facebook for lead generation.
● It's about you AND your business.
● It's used for personal branding, selling your product or service, marketing your business, and recruitment.

Getting started
Set up your account properly. Create your personal profile first.
● Use a professional-looking photo of yourself.
● Profile photo between 200 x 200 and 500 x 500 pixels.
● Describe what you do rather than your job title e.g. ‘Manager’ – give keywords.
● Include your website and other social media links.
● Write a summary. Include a call to action.
● Use images where possible.

Top Tips
● Complete your profile.
● Connect with as many people as possible.
● Interact with your contacts: comment, answer questions, offer advice, say congratulations.
● Follow influencers and share their content e.g. Richard Branson.
● Follow lots of companies, including your competitors.
● Connect with people you have met or worked with.
● Put a personal message in your request to connect.
● Ask for recommendations – in the text box ask for recommendations for specific things.
● Endorse and recommend others.

Top Tips - Searching
● Use the search box, e.g Groups → web design, Posts → web design.
● You could find someone looking for your service e.g. “Can anyone recommend a web designer?”
● Advanced search for people, e.g. Marketing Manager within 25 miles of your postcode.
● Use speech marks for specific job title.

Groups
Groups are great for sharing posts and entering into a professional dialogue with people in similar industries.
● Actively participate in groups.
● Search for questions related to your area of expertise and answer them - include links to your related blog or website page.
● Join groups where your customers and prospects are and then create content such as articles, how-tos, guides and blog posts that feature subjects relevant to that group.

Groups
● Participants who comment on group discussions get four times the number of profile views.
● Maintain a 7/1 ratio - seven useful pieces of content to one promotional.
● Conduct market research by asking a question.
● You can send a request to connect to another group member without their email address.
● OR EVEN: Create your own LinkedIn Group - for a very specific group of people you would like to engage with regularly. Make it an 'open group.'
● You can also send newsletter e-shots to your group.

Set up a company page for your business
● Interests → Companies → Create a company.
● Use a cover image that reflects your branding and website (size 646 x 220 pixels when this blog post was written).
● Write a great description of your business. Use keywords, so people can find your LinkedIn company page through Google searches.
● Add products and services.
● Make sure your most important product is listed first.

Using your company page effectively
● If you have employees, ask them to connect with your page.
● Publish some company updates to make your Page look useful. Start creating useful, meaningful, interesting, or entertaining content that your target audience wants to read and see.
● Actively engage with your followers.
● Once you have over 100 followers, you can use targeted updates. You can target by company size, industry, function, seniority, geography or language.
● Check the Analytics section.

We're on LinkedIn ourselves, so why not follow our business page and perhaps we can start talking and sharing.

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10 things a social media manager should be doing for you

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Social media manager

Let's assume that you're a time-poor business owner, or you work in a marketing role. As the business develops, you may find that you no longer have the time or energy to maintain your online presence. Or you realise you need help to maximise this powerful marketing tool. So you hire a Social Media Manager (SMM) for your small business. Now what?

1. Tell all Tell your SMM all about your business upfront so they get a really good feel for what you do, and understand your values and brand 'personality'. Think of three or four words that sum up your brand. They don't need to be too deep and meaningful – for example you might want to be thought of as modern, friendly, and expert. It’s not necessarily the personality your business has now: it’s the one you want to become, and how you want your customers to describe you. This step is vital. Your SMM can now tailor all content so it consistently matches this personality.

2. Discuss your strategy up front Before the first Tweet is sent, you should agree your social media strategy with your SMM. They will be able to point you in the right direction. It needn't be complicated; you basically need to agree on (1) What you want to do and (2) How you’re going to do it. From this discussion you'll be able to decide between you which social media platforms will be most suitable for your business. We've written more about the various platforms on another of our blog posts about social media marketing.

3. Set clear and realistic objectives As with all areas of your business, you need to set some objectives. This will allow you to monitor the success of your social media management. You’ll never know what your return on investment is without first setting these objectives. For example, you could use these goals for Facebook marketing:

  • Growth of 'likes' (although check point 8 below!)
  • Reach – the number of people who have seen your post. Your post counts as reaching someone when it's shown in their News Feed
  • Engagement – the percentage of people who saw a post that liked, shared, clicked or commented on it
  • Leads and Sales – this may be harder to measure. For example, how do you find out if a purchase in a shop or a visit to a café was generated by a Facebook post?

4. Find out what they'll be doing Make sure your SMM is clear about how much work they will be doing for you. For example, will they be posting twice a day on Twitter and three times a week on Facebook? How much time will they spend growing the accounts? What level of interaction with followers will there be and how quickly will they respond to this interaction? The vast majority of social media managers will offer a range of packages to suit your requirements. Ultimately the price you pay will depend on the time they spend working on your behalf.

5. Keep an eye on it You're paying someone to look after your social media, so you shouldn't feel the need to constantly check that everything is in order. However, it's a good idea to cast your eye over your accounts now and again, just to make sure that you and your SMM are still singing from the same hymnsheet.

6. Give them lots of pictures Posts containing images are proven to be the most viewed, commented on and shared across all social media. This is particularly the case on Facebook. Share as many professional photos as you can – these will be best for the header images on your accounts. You should also supply as many other pictures as you can. They don't have to be professional – snaps taken on your smartphone can work really well (if this is appropriate for your business).

7. Give them notice If you've got an upcoming event, promotion, sale or special offer, make sure you give your SMM plenty of notice. This will allow them to come up with a calendar that ensures posts are consistent in the weeks leading up to the event. It's essential in a social media campaign to post often enough to keep the information fresh in customers’ minds without making content seem spammy.

8. Remember quality vs quantity Having 10,000 followers on Twitter and 5,000 page 'likes' on Facebook doesn’t mean a thing if there is no interaction between your followers and your company. Beware of the company who promises you huge numbers in a short amount of time. They are either buying in fake followers who will never engage, or will be expecting you to pay for an advertising campaign to boost numbers. Building a fan base takes time and a lot of hard work. It's better to have a smaller number of truly engaged people commenting on posts and retweeting content than a huge number that doesn’t participate at all.

9. Be prepared Discuss what you might do during a crisis, and ask how your SMM would respond if a customer complained about you on social media. You can't just put your head in the sand and hope it will go away! Their strategy should be to respond promptly and avoid aggression. For an ongoing problem e.g. an interrupted service, the following formula could be used: “Update/description + what is currently being done to fix it + call to action".

10. Talk! Make sure you communicate with your social media manager as much as possible. If there's something happening in your business that you want to share, let them know. It may seem insignificant to you, but could be of interest to others, for example the appointment of a new staff member, an award you have won, good feedback you have received or even relevant industry news.

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Pay-Per-Click advertising - is it for me?

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Pay per click advertising

Pay-per-click is a method of internet marketing whereby advertisers pay a fee each time one of their adverts is clicked. It’s a way of “buying” visits to your site, rather than earning those visits organically.

You basically bid for advert placement on a search engine results page. The most widely-used search engine is Google, and the most widely-used method of pay-per-click advertising is Google AdWords. Every time your advert is clicked and a visitor is sent to your website, you pay Google a fee.

HOW WILL IT BENEFIT ME?

  • There's no minimum buy – AdWords allows you spend whatever amount you want, with no minimum. You can run or test a campaign for as little as £25 - £50 a month.
  • Easy and fast creation – Once you set up an account, you can begin to create ads straight away.
  • Your ad goes lives almost immediately – Ads can start to appear within 20 minutes of having set it up.
  • Pay only for clicks – When a user views your ad, you pay nothing. Don't worry about your competition clicking away on your ad - Google's system protects against multiple clicks from the same user.
  • Bid system placement – How much does a click cost? That depends on what you're willing to bid and key phrase popularity. If you list a specific phrase like "summer wedding outfit Leamington Spa," you won't have to bid very much. A popular phrase like "wedding outfit" however could cost a fortune.
  • You can set a maximum cost per day – You can cap your campaign spending at a predefined amount per day. If you get a lot of activity, you can tell Google not to display your ad after a certain amount has been spent. Once this threshold has been reached, your ad will not display until the following day.
  • It's manageable – If you want to make adjustments, you can edit your ad at any time. You can also pause or stop a campaign at any time.

Interested in running a campaign? Check out one of our other blog posts to find out how you set it all up.

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Social media marketing for dummies

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Social media marketing for dummies

For small businesses, social media can be a valuable and cost-effective method of marketing communications if you know how to use it.

It's about involvement and brand-building, getting your name out there rather than as a direct sales tool. Compare it to being at a party. The person who stands there all evening telling everyone how amazing they are will end up talking to themselves. The other guests will get bored and wander off The person who asks questions, responds, gets involved and has interesting things to say will attract the bigger crowd.

To make the most of this opportunity, make sure you've worked out your social media strategy. This isn't as difficult as it sounds! All you need to do is ask yourself some questions:

1. Why am I using social media?
It could be to:

  • Gain website traffic
  • Increase conversions
  • Strengthen brand awareness
  • Create a brand identity and positive brand association
  • Communicate and interact with key audiences

...or all of the above.

2. Whose attention am I trying to get?
Okay, so you want to market that new line of products, for example. You need to know your target audience for that product, and try to engage with them.

3. Which sites do I want to use?
If you have enough staffing power to handle multiple social networking sites, that's great. If not, it's important to focus on one or two, or you could spread yourself too thin, and end up going days without activity. Your followers will notice.

4. Who's going to manage my page?
Would your social networking activity fall under a current employee's responsibilities, or do you need to bring on new talent? If you ever find yourself without the staffing resources to manage your page, don't stick your head in the sand, find the time to do it yourself or pay someone else to do it.

5. What's going to be the personality of my page?
You'll need to decide on the 'voice' of your social networking site. People buy from other people, not from other companies so it may be useful to pick someone to represent your business. Or do it yourself!

So now you've decided WHY you are using social media, you need to work out HOW.

  • Draw up a schedule – otherwise you'll either never use your social media accounts, or you could find yourself wasting time clicking from one link to the next!
  • Some small businesses seem to spend all day every day posting on social media sites, which can be fantastic for their profile. However this may not always be possible for you, time is often at a premium and you've probably got a million and one other things to take care of.
  • Using a tool like HootSuite or Buffer to schedule your posts.
  • It can also help to allot yourself time for your social media, for example 20 minutes at 9am, 10 minutes at lunchtime and 10 minutes mid-afternoon.

How do I use each social media platform?

Facebook

  • Facebook has a casual, friendly environment.
  • It's a place people go to relax and chat with friends, so keep your tone light and friendly.
  • It's great for sharing images so useful if you are selling products.
  • Using Facebook for business revolves around furthering your conversation with audiences by posting industry-related articles, images, videos, etc.
  • TIP: Make sure your business is set up as a business 'Page' and not as a person profile – Facebook have recently been shutting down profiles that have been set up incorrectly.

Pinterest

  • Pinterest’s image-centered platform is ideal for retail, but anyone can benefit from using Pinterest for social media purposes.
  • Pinterest allows small businesses to showcase their own product offerings while also developing their own brand’s personality with some unique pinboards.

Twitter

  • To kick off, follow tweeters in your industry or related fields, and you should gain a steady stream of followers in return.
  • Mix up your official-related tweets about specials, discounts, and news updates with some fun and quirky tweets.
  • Always retweet when something nice is said about you, and answer people’s questions when possible.
  • Twitter revolves around dialogue and communication, so interact as much as possible.
  • And if you integrate your Twitter feed onto your website's home page, this will help your SEO as your home page is being constantly refreshed.

LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn isn't just an online CV for job hunters. It's also a powerful tool for business knowledge.
  • LinkedIn Groups are a useful venue for entering into a professional dialogue with people in similar industries and provides a place to share content with like-minded individuals.
  • Encourage customers or clients to give your business a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. Recommendations make your business appear more credible and reliable for new customers.
  • Browse the Questions section of LinkedIn; providing answers helps you get established and earns trust.
  • Make sure you have a LinkedIn page for your business as well as for yourself. Brand it with your logo and images from your website.
  • You can upload posts in the same way as with other social media platforms.
  • Your LinkedIn business page even has an analytics section so you can see how many people viewed and clicked on your posts.

YouTube

  • YouTube is the number one place for creating video content, which can be an incredibly powerful social media marketing tool.
  • Many businesses try to create video content with the aim of having their video “go viral,” but in reality those chances are pretty slim.
  • Instead, focus on creating useful, instructive “how-to” videos. These how-to videos also have the added benefit of ranking on the video search results of Google, so don't under-estimate the power of video content!

Location-Based Social Media Tools

  • Yelp and FourSquare are great for bricks and mortar businesses.
  • Register on these sites to claim your location, and then consider extra incentives such as check-in rewards or special discounts.
  • Remember, these visitors will have their phones in hand so they will have access to reviews which could help to grow your business.

Most importantly – don't feel that you have to use all of them! If you're a sole trader, for example, you might only have the time to use Twitter. If this is the case, stick to Twitter. Better to have one active social media account than three or four under-used ones. It will look like you're not engaging.

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Search Engine Optimisation: an A to Z (part 2)

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SEO a to z

OK so we've covered the letters A to M.

This time let's take a look at N to Z, starting with...

 

Natural / organic search results

Search engine results which are not sponsored or paid for.

 

Nofollow tag

The nofollow tag is a way website owners can tell search engines not to count some of their links to other pages as 'votes' in favour of that content. This can help to inform search engines that you're not involved in any schemes deemed as unacceptable SEO practices, such as link farms. A form of 'Link condom'.

 

Noindex

Noindex code does exactly what it suggests - it tells search engines NOT to index the page, so that it cannot be found in searches. Noindex is used by website developers on any page that they don’t want users to find otherwise. For example, a link from an email giving recipients a special offer.

 

Non-reciprocal links

One-way inbound links to your website that originate from other sites. Search engines give more value to these one-way links as they are less likely to be the result of collusion between websites.

 

Organic links

Organic links are published to add value for users of your website, and are therefore good SEO practise. They are more likely to appear in a context relevant to the subject of the website.

 

PageRank

A value between 0 and 1 assigned by the Google algorithm, which quantifies link popularity and trust (among other factors). PageRank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages. It works by counting the number and quality of links to a page to determine a rough estimate of how important the website is. The underlying assumption is that more important websites are likely to receive more links from other sites.

 

Portal

A web service which offers a wide range of features to encourage users to make the portal their 'home page' on the internet, for example Google, MSN, BBC.

 

Pay Per Action (PPA)

Similar to Pay Per Click (see below) except advertisers only pay when click-throughs result in conversions.

 

Pay Per Click (PPC)

An advertising method where the advertisers only pay when a user clicks on their ad. Google Adwords is the most widely-used brand of PPC advertising.

 

Redirect

A way of changing the address of a landing page, for example when a website is moved to a new domain.

 

Return On Investment (ROI)

Widely used in business; in an online context software such as Google Analytics is used to measure ROI and therefore the cost vs benefit of different online marketing methods.

 

Search engine

A programme which searches web pages for relevant matches of keywords/phrases, and returns a list of the most relevant matches. The most widely-used is Google, followed by Bing and Yahoo.

 

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Researching, submitting and positioning a website within search engines to achieve maximum exposure. SEM includes things such as SEO, paid listings and other search-engine related services to increase traffic to your website.

 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

So here it is! SEO is the process of increasing the number of visitors to a website by achieving a high rank in the search results of a search engine. The higher the search rankings, the greater the chance that users will visit the site. Most people won't look past the first few pages of search results, therefore a high rank in SERPs is essential for obtaining traffic.

 

SERP

Search Engine Results Page.

 

Site map

A page or group of pages which link to every page on a website. The site map can help users to navigate their way around a website, particularly a large and complex one. In terms of SEO, a site map helps spiders to find and then index all of the pages.

 

Spamdexing

Another Black Hat SEO technique. It's the practice of changing or creating web pages to increase the chance of them being placed close to the beginning of search engine results, or to influence the category to which the page is assigned in a dishonest manner. Many search engines check for instances of spamdexing and will remove suspect pages from their indexes.

 

Spider

See Bot above.

 

Splash page

Often animated graphics pages without much text. Splash pages are intended to look appealing to humans. However search engine spiders only navigate through text and may therefore ignore splash pages. So in terms of SEO, they're best avoided.

 

Static page

Web pages that consist only of HTML and images. Static pages are good for SEO in that they are friendly to search engine spiders.

 

Sticky content

Content published on a website which has the purpose of getting a user to return to that particular website or hold their attention and get them to spend longer periods of time there. Examples of 'sticky' websites are forums, news sites and blogs.

 

Supplemental results

Pages with very low PageRank, which are still relevant to a search query, often appear in the search engine results page with a label of 'Supplemental Result'.

 

Time on page

The amount of time that a user spends on one page before leaving. It's therefore an indication of quality and relevance.

 

URL

Uniform Resource Locator - or your web address.

 

User Generated Content (UGC)

Any form of website content such as text, video, blogs, images, audio files etc., created by people and publicly available to others. Social media sites, wikis, and blogs rely heavily on UGC.

 

White Hat SEO techniques

These techniques conform to best practice guidelines and do not attempt to unscrupulously manipulate SERPs.

 

So that's it for now. There's a lot more to SEO than first meets the eye, and we're sure there's even more that could be added to this list.

If you're now more confused than ever, or are interested in hearing more about how we can help with your website's SEO, get in touch.

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Search Engine Optimisation: an A to Z (part 1)

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SEO a to z

Don't know your Algorithm from your Index? Don't worry, you're not alone.

Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is basically a way of helping your website to appear as near to the top of search rankings as possible. It can be a bewildering area for the beginner. There are numerous concepts to get your head round, and that's before you start trying to understand all the associated jargon.

Perhaps you're taking the first steps in improving your own website's SEO, or are considering getting an expert to help you.

Either way, we thought we'd help by offering an A to Z guide to SEO, starting with the letters A to M. Oh, and we've thrown in some other web and online advertising-related jargon that might help too...

 

Algorithm

A programme used by search engines (like Google or Yahoo) to determine what web pages to suggest for a given search query.

 

Alt text

A description of a graphic element or picture on a website. Not usually visible to the end user, but used by search engines.

 

Analytics

A programme which assists in gathering and analysing data about website usage. Google Analytics is a popular free analytics programme (but you might need some help from your web developer to get started).

 

Anchor text

The blue, underlined text of a link on a search results page. It's the clickable link that takes you to the web page. Good SEO practice is to ensure that your anchor text is relevant to the content of the page.

 

Authority / Trust

The amount of trust that a website is credited with for a particular search term. Authority comes from related links coming in from other trusted sites. The BBC, for example, is an 'authority site' partly due to the huge number of web links it contains from other trusted websites.

 

Backlink

Any link into a page or website from any other page or website.

 

'Black Hat' SEO techniques

Techniques that do not abide by best practises like Google Webmaster Guidelines. Black Hat techniques are frowned upon by Google. If discovered your website could be blacklisted and won't appear on any search results - so make sure you don't use them!

 

Bot (robot, spider, crawler)

A programme used by search engines to look around the web, find web pages, and add them to their search indexes.

 

Bounce rate

The number of users, expressed as a percentage, who enter a website and then leave it without visiting any other pages.

 

Breadcrumbs

Website navigation in a horizontal bar above the main content. It helps the user to understand where they are on the website, and navigate back to the main menu or sub-menus.

 

Click fraud

'Fake' clicks on a Pay Per Click advert, for the purpose of gaining revenue for the publisher.

 

Cloaking

When a website delivers different content to the search engine spider than that seen by the user. The aim of cloaking is to deceive search engines so they display the page when it would not otherwise be displayed. It's a Black Hat SEO technique that should be avoided.

 

Code swapping

Submitting a text-only version of a web page in order to gain high rankings for that page. Once the desired positions within the search engines are achieved, the text page is swapped for a page of content and images designed for human viewers. Another Black Hat SEO technique to be avoided - and the spiders will eventually return and catch up with you.

 

Comment spam

Posting blog comments for the sole purpose of generating a link to your site. Many blogs use a 'link condom' to prevent this (we're not making this up!).

 

Content

The text or copy in a website. Advertising, branding and navigation are not usually considered to be content.

 

Content Management System (CMS)

Programmes like WordPress, which allow non-technical users to easily update their own website without the need for a web developer. See some of ours here.

 

Contextual advert

Advertising which is related to the content of the website.

 

Conversion

The achievement of a measurable goal on a website, for example a sale, newsletter sign-up or software download.

 

Conversion rate

The percentage of users who convert (see above). This can be difficult to measure offline, for example a purchase at a bricks and mortar shop following a website visit.

 

Cost Pr Click (CPC)

The rate that an online advertiser pays for every click through from their advert.

 

CPM

Metric used by Google AdWords to quantify the average cost of PPC (Pay Per Click) adverts – M meaning one thousand.

 

Directory

A website devoted to directory pages, for example the Yahoo directory.

 

Directory page

A page of links to other web pages.

 

Doorway page (or gateway)

A web page that is designed to attract traffic from a search engine and then redirect it to another page. Doorway pages that redirect visitors without their knowledge are another form of Black Hat SEO.

 

Feed

Frequently updated content which is delivered to users. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it.

 

Frames

A web page where two or more documents appear on the same screen, each within its own frame. Good web designers avoid using frames; they are bad for SEO because they can confuse spiders. Frames are often disliked by human users too, as they can be difficult to read.

 

HTML

Stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML is the main language for creating web pages, and is therefore the 'mother tongue' of search engines. The content of your website's HTML code will bring benefits for your website’s usability and SEO.

 

Impression

One user's view of a web page on one occasion. Also known as Page View.

 

Keywords

One or more words typed into a search engine by a user describing what they are looking for. For example, “Book shop Leamington Spa” or “Cheap villa holidays.” Keywords are an important part of SEO, but should be used along with a number of other SEO practices for optimum search ranking.

 

Keyword cannibalisation

The excessive use of the same keyword on too many pages within the same website. So multiple pages specifically target the same content, to the point where the search engine struggles to determine which page is most relevant for the search query.

 

Keyword density

The percentage of particular keywords on a web page. If this percentage is unnaturally high, this is known as 'keyword stuffing' and your web page may be penalised. You should aim to make your content readable to a human, not full of contrived sentences.

 

Keyword research

Determining which keywords are appropriate for your business to target.

 

Keyword stuffing

(See Keyword density above). The act of filling your web content with keywords to the detriment of clear and appealing copy.

 

Landing page

The website page that a user arrives at when they click on a link to your website.

 

Link

An element on a web page that can be clicked to go to another page.

 

Link bait

A web page designed to attract incoming links, often via social media.

 

Link building

Actively cultivating incoming links to a website.

 

Link exchange

A reciprocal linking scheme. Link exchanges can allow links to poor quality websites, such as directories. Large link exchange schemes or networks can be detected algorithmically, so you'll end up being penalised by Google sooner or later. Good quality directories are usually edited by humans for quality assurance.

 

Link farm

A group of websites which all link to each other. Link farms are only intended for spiders and have little value to human users. Therefore link farms are often counted as Black Hat SEO, and are ignored or penalised by search engines.

 

Link popularity

The measure of the value of a website based on the number – but more importantly the quality – of websites that link to it.

 

Link spam

Similar to Comment spam (see above). Unwanted links posted on your website, for example in your blog's comments section.

 

Long tail search

A search term that a user types into a search engine, containing three or more words. For example “Cheap villa holidays in Greece with swimming pool” rather than “Villa holidays.” If you use long tail search keywords in your SEO, the traffic your website receives will be better quality.

 

Meta tags

Statements within the HEAD section of an HTML page which provide information about the page. Meta information may be shown in the search engine results page but is not visible on the web page. It's vital to have unique and accurate meta title and description tags, because they are likely to be the information that the search engines use to determine what the page is about. Also, they are the first impression that users get about your website on the results page.

 

OK so that's A to M dealt with. Keep your eyes peeled for our next blog post, which will cover the letters N to Z.

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