Fashion Exposed Revived will take place on 20 – 24 February 2015 at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park. Organiser AGHA shares some business insights ahead of the event, which will also feature a series of industry seminars. Head here for more.
Finally, you’ve launched your website. But how do you get people to actually find it? With the help of search engine optimisation, you can boost your traffic in a few simple steps.
When shopping online, most customers use a search engine like Google or Bing. Little wonder many businesses see search engine optimisation (SEO) as an important marketing strategy. SEO is the practice of adjusting webpages to achieve a better ranking in the search results, driving more visitors to your site.
Alexandra Riggs, founder of kids’ label and online store Oobi Baby, believes SEO is essential. “Sharing our latest designs with our fans and the wider market wouldn’t be possible without huge investment,” she says. “SEO lets us do our marketing far more efficiently. In the three months we’ve been focussing on SEO, our database has increased by almost 300%.”
How search engines work
Search engines regularly ‘crawl’ the internet, indexing webpages. When someone performs a search, an algorithm ranks each webpage by relevance to the keyword or phrase.
A number of criteria are considered when ranking a webpage, primarily the words on the page and the backlinks leading to your site.
Choose the right keywords
Think of the words and phrases your customers would use when searching for products like yours.
Google’s keyword tool (adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool) lets you research which keywords may attract the most traffic to your site. Enter your website details and some associated words and it will display a report of the best phrases related to your business, plus how often people search the term each month.
By weaving your chosen keywords into webpage copy, particularly in headings and subheadings, the search engines will identify that the page is relevant to the topic. However, beware of simply riddling the content on your website with keywords.
“Quality content is most important, from interesting product descriptions to maintaining a blog,” advises Riggs. “Always develop content with your customers in mind.”
Boost traffic with backlinks
Search engines consider external links to your website (also known as backlinks) as recommendations.
However, a link to your website from a reputable source, such as a popular blog or website relevant to the topic, will be far more beneficial than a link from a poor quality webpage no one reads.
Paid links are also no good, so you can’t just buy backlinks. Search engines have ways of sniffing these out, cancelling out the benefit.
Measure and improve
Google Analytics (google.com/analytics/) tracks how many visitors have reached your site and where from. If they came from a search engine, in most cases, you’ll also be able to see which keyword was used, so you can identify areas for improvement.
Uploading a site map to Webmaster Tools (google.com/webmasters/tools/) helps Google index your website correctly while identifying problems such as broken links.
Google’s Webmaster Academy (support.google.com/webmasters) contains plenty of articles, videos and more to help you learn the basics and avoid mistakes.
DIY or outsource?
Most businesses manage some SEO by writing keyword-rich articles. “Fresh content is king. Search engines love it,” recommends Josh Khoddami, general manager of online marketing for The Web Showroom. “Have a blog or news section and update it regularly.”
Professional SEO services cater for most budgets, but take care.
“There are a lot of dodgy SEO companies out there,” warns Khoddami. “Look for an Australian company with a decent sized office of online professionals and a reputable client base. Avoid companies ‘guaranteeing’ number one placements.”
Whatever you end up deciding, don’t delay. “The earlier you start, the more cost-effective it will be. The internet is only getting more competitive,” adds Khoddami.