We talk to digital marketer and our Managing Director, Bill Vasiliadis, and ask him a few questions about the importance of developing high-quality websites for effective online marketing.
Q: What does SEO for Small Business Australia do?
A: SEO for Small Business Australia is a digital marketing agency for SMEs, although we do sometimes work with larger companies. Our aim is to help business owners improve their online presence and visibility, and in turn, increase traffic to their website and capture more leads and sales conversions. Our services include SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), PPC (Pay-Per-Click advertising), and content services.
Q: How important is SEO in a business having an effective online presence?
A: There’s a lot of ‘noise’ out there in internet-land as websites compete for attention. Just getting noticed in the first place can be tricky! With the right tools and know-how though, it becomes a lot easier to be found online through Google or other search engines.
When people do a Google search, for instance, they are returned with various results matching their search terms and are most likely to click on the ones that are ranked at or near the top of page one, while those lower down are likely to be overlooked. Optimising your site for search engines can go a long way towards getting higher rankings and greater visibility in searches.
Q: Does SEO come automatically when a business builds a website?
A: In a word, no – unless it’s incorporated into the build. SEO is a sophisticated process that involves providing quality and relevant content for site audiences, ensuring a superior user experience and logical information architecture, and appropriate and relevant use of keywords and links. Some other strategies include technical improvements such as site speed and structured data.
Q: How important is content within a website?
A: Many years ago, it was possible to use all the ‘tricks of the trade’, such as lots of keywords and backlinks, to rank well with search engines. However, search engines have now refined their search algorithms to be much more sophisticated and smart. An example of this is the way Google now rewards sites that publish high-quality, factual, and authoritative content on a regular basis.
So, these days, quality content that has high relevance for a particular audience is vital for effective marketing and good website ranking.
Q: How important is social media for a website/business?
A: Social media can be very important, especially in that it enables engagement with and feedback from the audience, adding a personal touch to a business. Search engines may also take social media signals – such as shares and retweets – into account when it comes to search rankings.
Q: Does SEO really work, and how can success be measured?
A: SEO can be very successful at driving more traffic to a site and getting some real results for a business. Analytics software can be used to track the source of website traffic and produce metrics and reports on traffic and conversions, enabling site owners to see what is working and what needs refining.
Q: What are your top 5 tips for a more effective website?
A:
- Good website design – the site should be appealing to the eye, easy to navigate, and intuitive to use, for both mobile and desktop.
- Optimise for users first and for search engines second – it’s important to be aware that you are developing a site for human beings and not Google-bots! Developing a site that is geared towards providing a good user experience needs to be the starting point in all your website activities, especially considering the upcoming Google Page Experience update launching in May 2021.
- Prominent and clear calls-to-action – these must enable users to easily take the next step. Calls-to-action also needs to be based on defined website and business goals.
- Engaging content – it’s essential that site content is well written, useful, and relevant for the audience.
- Speed – studies show that people will frequently abandon site pages that are too slow to load, no matter how great the product or service is! And of course, it’s a search engine ranking factor.
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By SEO for Small Business Australia
SEO for Small Business Australia is a leading digital marketing agency based in Sydney that offers SEO, PPC, and content services for small and medium-sized businesses in Australia and worldwide.
