Employing an SEO/ Online Marketing Specialist

[Interiorsdan]

Hi Guys,

I didn't really know whether to post in here or another category???

We would like to improve our website traffic substantially. I know that there is an opportunity to do so as our competitors selling the same products are getting around 21K people to their website a day. We've worked with quite a few freelance SEO's and consultants over the years and it hasn't really made much of a difference to the usual practice I have learnt over the years of having an online business.

We're toying with the idea of taking on a permanent Online Marketing Expert for an initial period of 3 or 6 months to improve our website traffic and if it improves, we'll keep them going. However we don't want to take someone on if nothing improves.

We know that if we improve the traffic, our sales will increase as this is the pattern we have seen throughout since the business started.

Has anybody got any experience of taking on an SEO in-house? Or does anyone have any views on this?

Thank you.

 

[fisicx]

How well does the site convert? It might be cheaper to work on increasing conversions rather than just get more visitors.

A quick look at the site and I can see a whole loads of things you could do to improve things - especially in a mobile phone and a tablet (which is what a lot of people use these days).

And working on improving conversions will normally lead to improved ranking. Which means you may not need to employ someone to do any SEO work.

And you can do a lot of SEO work yourself. for example:

Louis De Poortere UK | Louis De Poortere Rugs Online - Naken Interiors

is an awful page title for a page marketing Bo Bohemian Rugs.

Bo Bohemian Rugs from Louis De Poortere

would be much better

PS: 9.2Mb homepage, 252 requests and over 3 second to get the page loaded. You need to get this fixed pronto. Google only scores you 14/100 - which isn't helping your ranking.

 

[Interiorsdan]

Hi fisicx,

Thank for your quick reply and for looking at this.

Without posting the conversion rates I can confrim that our conversion rate is very good. We're always doing as much as possible, although admittedly our mobile/ tablet site needs improving.

The page tittle for the Bo Bohemian Rugs is actually Louis De Poortere UK | Bo Bohemian Rugs

Would it be better to put "Bo Bohemian Rugs"? Why is that?

Thanks again.

 

[fisicx]

Sorry, you are correct - I was Googling one thing and looking at another

It's the first thing google looks at on the page. Google will then look at the rest of the page and check that the H1, content, images all match the page title. Google will then look at all the inbound links to that page and check the anchor text in those links relates to the page title and every thing else. It's like a big checklist, if all the ducks are lined up Google gives you a big tick and ranks you accordingly.

A good UX on mobiles and tablets are the key to future success. Some sites get far more visitors from these devices than from desktops. My wife for example hasn't used anything other than an iPad for over a year.

It's great that conversions are good but a bit of tweaking to the site could make them even better. And those tweaks will be noticed by Google. You could easily rank better across a whole range of keywords without too much effort. But you do need to sort out the page load speed. I checked on my phone and had to reload three times before the site loaded properly. I then tested on 3G and waited, and waited, and waited....

Join UKBF as a full member and you can get a website review. And use this site for some testing: https://usabilityhub.com/ And this one: https://www.crazyegg.com/. And do Ray's fantastic SEO course: http://freshbananas.co.uk/

I think the products are fantastic and my will no doubt be telling what I going to be spending my money on later. You sell the wallpaper we've got in our hall. Getting that to match on an odd shaped room was fun.

 

[Mike Bunn]

Hi,

It is difficult to find an expert in this field that does not already have a job or working for a company that provides these services. If you can then it might be great for your business.

My approach would be to ask a company to do a full competitor gap analysis, these will provide full details on where your website currently sits and what is required to move your business forward. To often freelancers will only be good in a single area which can result in a poor performance campaign, to do digital marketing well you tend to need developers, designers, optimisers, social media experts as well as content writers.

All the best

Mike

 

[Interiorsdan]

Sorry, you are correct - I was Googling one thing and looking at another

It's the first thing google looks at on the page. Google will then look at the rest of the page and check that the H1, content, images all match the page title. Google will then look at all the inbound links to that page and check the anchor text in those links relates to the page title and every thing else. It's like a big checklist, if all the ducks are lined up Google gives you a big tick and ranks you accordingly.

A good UX on mobiles and tablets are the key to future success. Some sites get far more visitors from these devices than from desktops. My wife for example hasn't used anything other than an iPad for over a year.

It's great that conversions are good but a bit of tweaking to the site could make them even better. And those tweaks will be noticed by Google. You could easily rank better across a whole range of keywords without too much effort. But you do need to sort out the page load speed. I checked on my phone and had to reload three times before the site loaded properly. I then tested on 3G and waited, and waited, and waited....

Hi fisicx,

Thanks for the insight, it's very interesting. Thank for the kind comments on the products etc too.

I think from what you've said, we should look at the Mobile UX and Speed ASAP. That's fine, we can try and work something out with the developers on that one.

With the SEO stuff, my biggest problem is time. If I found the time to take an SEO course, it would be impossible for me to implement all the changes myself. Especially with page tittles, H1 tags and meta descriptions. We've probably got 5,000 pages that eventually all need adapting which is why we're exploring the idea of getting some in to deal with it in house. If you're saying that we could make big differences by adapting and optimising page tittles etc, then do you think it would be worth getting someone in to do this while we get a developer to work on UX?

Thanks for all the input.

 

[fisicx]

I think that would be a good place to start. The page titles are the key, get these right and everything will fall into place quite quickly.

Look at this page: https://www.naken.co.uk/wallpaper/c...and-son-geometric-ii-miami-105-4017-wallpaper

The page title is: Cole & Son | Geometric II Miami 105/4017 Wallpapers

It's not bad but: Cole and Son Miami Geometric Wallpaper (105/4017) is better

The H1 on the page should be: Miami Wallpaper from Cole and Son

With an H2 of: Style number 105/4017 from the Geometric 2 collection

Then a description: A fantastic geometric design reminiscent of Escher's famous designs. This gorgeous wallpaper has a drop of 18" and is made from 400gsm paper. Cole and Son wallpapers may not be cheap but the handprinted designs are quite stunning. We recommend using xxx paste mixed in a 5:1 ratio with water and applied using a 10" badger hair brush and two small children holding to look on adoringly.

Tell me a story. Don't repeat but build the content from the page title onwards.

The developer is going to have his work cut out. Getting the home page down to a decent size and making it work well on all devices is a mammoth job. Whoever built the site didn't do that good a job. A 9Mb homepage is quite appalling especially when you consider there isn't that much on it. Even with all the fancy (and unnecessary ) effects it should be a tenth of the size.

 

[Nochexman]

We're toying with the idea of taking on a permanent Online Marketing Expert for an initial period of 3 or 6 months to improve our website traffic and if it improves, we'll keep them going. However we don't want to take someone on if nothing improves.

I'd ask someone like @fisicx to do a website audit and itemise the work that needs to be done, and then think about employing someone to implement those changes.

 

[Plumb Spares Direct]

My wife would love the products on this site.........how do i block it?

 

[StevePoster]

We know that if we improve the traffic, our sales will increase as this is the pattern we have seen throughout since the business started.

Employing an SEO or online marketing specialist would be crucial to your business. Always remember that traffic doesn't always go to conversions or sales. Tell the SEO or Online marketing specialist your site's needs to be able to provide the expectations and benefits for the target users.

 

[CreativeSeoCompanyBristol]

I do agree with Steve on the need to have a good SEO or online marketing specialist for your business as they will help save you the time that you would have invested in learning and doing the SEO on the more than 5,000 pages of your website.

Equally, having an optimised mobile-friendly ecommerce store would do your business even better especially for those visitors that do 'show-rooming' (visit a physical shop to check out a product and then later go back and search to make the purchase online)