In extreme pain with SEO!

[BeautyStartUp]

Hi lovely people,

Had some real gems of advice and support here recently so I though I'd put this one out there for you all to mull over.

For context: 1 year old (just) ecommerce site selling niche, relatively unknown natural skincare & bodycare brands. Just re-branded and improved the UX on site plus customer loyalty scheme etc etc. Got around 120 products for sale, increasing to 150 by the Summer.

Ahrefs - when I did some research on Ahrefs I could have cried (ok, so I did cry a little bit My DA is low, my competitors are outranking me by miles. My organic search volume is under 50% what they are. (BUT for me it has increased by 50% in the past 3/4 months which suggest I am *slowly* improving my rankings with what I have done already) I have very few backlinks and those that I do have are pretty useless (low DAs from bloggers). I rank for hardly any key words that I hoped I would. My site is running slowish despite me getting my developer to do all the usual stuff (it's around 3-3.5 sec load time atm).

HELP! I am running this webshop part time around so much else at the moment but I have some time over the Summer to really hammer it on SEO and to set some proper targets but being a novice I really don't know where.to.start. Here's my attempts at a basic plan, am I doing it all wrong or is this on the right lines?

1. Tackle web speed. I don't know how, but I may have to ditch my developer and find someone who can help with this. I know for ecommerce it *should* be under 2 secs ideally. Or am I being unrealistic? Using woocommerce. I hate it
2. Research and then choose around 3-4 keywords/long tail searches and create a ranking strategy for these words. This would involve - getting backlinks from trusted sites / creating valuable blog content /collaborations with influencers etc. Make sure my content/products for these keywords are fully optimised for SEO. Which platform should I use for this to monitor progress?
3. Hustle like a mothaf*(ker to get my site listed in some Trusted High Ranked sites like the Independent/Glamour/Elle etc in online articles for some beauty products in my store. I have some really unique products that no one else is selling so I could focus on those (on trend, plastic free etc etc). Any tips on this?
4. Directory listings - get listed in as many directories as I can get my hands on, particularly those in the South West where I am based (growing a local customer base appears to be easier) so that have get more backlinks. Is this worth spending much time on?

Finally - I have NO money at the moment. So this is going to have to be hard graft and legwork rather than paying for someone else to do the dirty. I am a really good salesperson so I can hustle, no problem, but I am going to have to learn everything else as I go along.

Any thoughts/feedback? Am I missing something HUGE here?

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I have some really unique products that no one else is selling so I could focus on those (on trend, plastic free etc etc).

Concentrate on this. Since you say you have no money though you may have to start locally and build traction over time. Eventually you will get a lucky break.

A one year old site isn't going to perform very well in organic search, it is going to take time. I wouldn't waste to much time analysing things you have little or no control over either - it's the route to insanity.

 

[Clinton]

A one year old site isn't going to perform very well in organic search, it is going to take time

My site hit #1 in Google UK within the first six months of its existence. And that's for highly competitive terms like Business Transfer Agent and Business Broker. I've not been doing SEO for a while but my site should still be near the top for those terms.

So I don't buy the argument that a one year old site is too young to perform well in SERPS.

If the OP doesn't know his SEO and doesn't have the money to spend then s/he should be targeting those marketing methods that involve the best use of time (instead of trying for organic traffic).

But, OP, if you want some tips on SEO, send me a DM with a link to your site and let me take a look. But, no, links from directories and "high ranking sites" is not the magic solution.

 

[NickGrogan]

Hustle like a mothaf*(ker to get my site listed in some Trusted High Ranked sites like the Independent/Glamour/Elle etc in online articles for some beauty products in my store. I have some really unique products that no one else is selling so I could focus on those (on trend, plastic free etc etc). Any tips on this?

Do this, everything else will follow.

Website speed should be fairly easy to fix, maybe upgrade the server or use a content delivery network to speed everything up.

Directories are worthless.

Bloggers/influencers aren't as important as they think. Get into Glamour / Elle and they'll call you.

Maybe try and get on This Morning, they do a regular beauty spot and need something to talk about.

 

[deniser]

What helped me massively when my business was quite new, was providing a comment to an online news website. I then got an email from the BBC asking if I wanted to appear on the news. My first instinct, because I actually have a phobia about public speaking, was to say no but I forced myself to say yes. They came later that day and interviewed me (my products were shown in the background) and featured me on the BBC breakfast news the next morning. The story then appeared on the World News. After that I got requests for radio interviews and even students doing projects for university etc.

It was something really mundane - in this case, a news story about a postal strike - and I had written a bit of a rant online about how my business was affected.

My website crashed under the number of hits but the publicity from that day lasted me for years and got me many loyal customers from all over the world. The news story had been watched as far away as USA and Australia.

I have also been interviewed by LBC and other radio stations about my products subsequently and been invited to do two photoshoot features in Women's magazines (Prima and Woman & Home) which linger in surgery waiting rooms for years.

With your unique products and special environmental angles, you can do the same and get free publicity. Make comments and mention your business and the media will find you. You don't need to pay to advertise.

 

[BeautyStartUp]

What helped me massively when my business was quite new, was providing a comment to an online news website. I then got an email from the BBC asking if I wanted to appear on the news. My first instinct, because I actually have a phobia about public speaking, was to say no but I forced myself to say yes. They came later that day and interviewed me (my products were shown in the background) and featured me on the BBC breakfast news the next morning. The story then appeared on the World News. After that I got requests for radio interviews and even students doing projects for university etc.

Wow that sounds amazing! You got your lucky break I am still waiting for mine and unfortunately I doubt myself every single day at the moment as it is so so tough starting an ecommerce business from scratch with little to no budget! But this is inspirational and definitely food for thought

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I doubt myself every single day...

Most of us do. There are few people who are brilliant and will always be successful but most of us are either lucky, too stubborn to give up, or a bit of both.

 

[Tin]

Hi there

I've been doing SEO since 1996 and have created what I think is a pretty decent course about SEO and other online marketing platforms. It is heavily focused for eCommerce shops. If you sign up for the free course I'll happily upgrade you to the full course for nothing and give you a few hours of 1-2-1 consultancy to get you going in the right direction from the outset.

There's a thread on here that another SEO started 4 years ago about my course here which might be worth a read.

@Clinton above has kindly suggested that you contact him, I strongly suggest that you do. He's a good guy and does know his way around the SEO world so don't miss that opportunity either.

You've got a steep learning curve ahead of you so best wishes.

Ray

 

[Clinton]

@BeautyStartUp , forget my offer, this is a far better one:

If you sign up for the free course I'll happily upgrade you to the full course for nothing and give you a few hours of 1-2-1 consultancy to get you going in the right direction from the outset.

 

[BeautyStartUp]

Hi Ray, wow thank you for your kind offer, that's amazing. I will look into your course definitely, I feel a bit like every time I research something about SEO I get told another conflicting bit of information so my head is spinning a little bit. I know I need to be focused on results, and although I am in it for the long game (like Darren_Ssc said I am basically pretty stubborn in between the doubting myself!) I don't want to be a 'busy fool' as they say. I am also incredibly time poor so anything I do needs to be giving me maximum results. Thank you all its been helpful to vent a little on here!

 

[Darkterror]

Search engine optimization is very important for any site, so long as you still have the hopes of ranking top. It is very possible, and whatever pains its taking you through, remember you are neither the first nor the last to go through that. Work on the speed an optimize it for different device interfaces and you'll be good to go. Only determined people succeed here

 

[Borim]

How do you plan to get listed in all that fashion outlets like that ? Do you really do something like outreach to them via e-mail ? Or maybe you are contacting them via other ways like phone or something like that ? I advice to call and make a schedule date of the article.

 

[billybob99]

I will be honest, when I took a look at the Fresh Bananas website I thought the course would be a load of BS.

But don't let looks deceive you.

My friend has been paying $997 a month for a 12 month course from this guy. The problem is there is so much stuff you don't know where to start, and he isn't actually getting anywhere.

You can apply the stuff from Fresh Bananas instantly.

This is coming from someone that has used BlackHat tactics for the majority of my sites. I thought I would give it a shot and try to get my head around it.

I was sceptical especially as I hate reading or learning stuff like this. But it does what it says it will do.

 

[1977]

Another vote for Ray’s course.

I was a beta tester for it before it was launched back in 2014 and it’s very good/clear, well worth the money.

Gonna be diving back into it very soon, too.

 

[parkingandsecurity]

I also signed up for the fresh bananas course but was apprehensive - what if the £197 wasn't worth it. I havent had further time to follow it up yet BUT all the reviews on here are glowing - not a single bad thing has been said. I just wanted to make sure it was "for me"

 

[fisicx]

Do all the activities of seo for six month, you get definitely rank in google. If you work hard you get result in short time

Wow! It looks like we have all been doing it wrong. All I need to do is everything for 6 months.

You aren't from around here are you @Archana Luthra (with an Indian website but pretending to be from the United state (sic)).

 

[Clinton]

Just curious, @fisicx, why don't you lot just ban these characters?

 

[fisicx]

Just curious, @fisicx, why don't you lot just ban these characters?

It's a bit of a fine line. If we banned everyone who posts stupid stuff there wouldn't be many members left. But a lot do get banned before you ever see their posts.

 

[Clinton]

Not "stupid" posts. Stupid posts should be allowed or I wouldn't be here myself.

But you can ban people from India / Pakistan etc., who go out of their way to pretend they are UK/US based. And you can ban all new posters who post fluff.

 

[billybob99]

Not "stupid" posts. Stupid posts should be allowed or I wouldn't be here myself.

You beat me to it.

 

[WeddingsInWales]

There is so much similar content written about SEO. I have read miles of it and it all sounds like the same thing written differently. Maybe there are loads of SEO consultants out there trying to rephrase what is already written to create 'original content' that is just duplicating what is already said somewhere else, but saying it in a different way. The general consensus seems to be if you write good content, you will do well. Well, I wrote load of content for my sites (weddings with a wedding planning section, dog friendly site with a dog walking and places to visit with dogs section, and a ghost site (with loads of ghost stories and interesting goings on at my castle in South Wales) and I reckon Google took no notice for years. Nowadays if I look on my computer I always find myself on the top, probably because the results are skewed in my favour on my own searches as it 'remembers' me and the sites I like to visit (my own!). My mobile phone has an uncanny ability to list my sites at the top of Google too, but I don't trust it - it also knows where I go and probably sends me results tailored to my preferred sites.

I am currently reading that building up backlinks is good, well I have no idea if this works either, though I certainly would not bother with directory sites which you waste hours listing yourself on and which I have never heard of.

The one thing that seems to work is having an established site over many years that a reasonable number of people look at. I think having visitors stay on the page for longer also helps, as it tells Google the page is of interest to people. So the adage to create original and good content holds, in this respect, if it can hold the attention of the fickle visitor. Adwords can be useful for boosting visitors, though organic visitors spend a lot longer on the site than Adwords generated visitors. I do notice my sites seem to creep up the rankings a bit for searches in line with the Adwords campaign, almost as if the extra traffic generated by the campaign gets the site seen more and once it is seen more, it creeps up the rankings.

We are all really in a crowd of people waving our hands in the air trying to get seen by our customers. Some markets are highly competitive and getting seen is a right pain as the questioner says - "extreme pain". I actually enjoy posting articles so whether it works or not, I am gradually adding back links at the rate of 4 or 5 a day on average. One thing I have found works is having separate sites for specific more narrow niches. The ghost site does well for searches on Halloween Night.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Well, I wrote load of content for my sites (weddings with a wedding planning section, dog friendly site with a dog walking and places to visit with dogs section, and a ghost site (with loads of ghost stories and interesting goings on at my castle in South Wales) and I reckon Google took no notice for years.

Your content will be mostly ignored unless it is totally unique or other people are linking to it. I'd imagine the ghost aspect and dog-friendly stuff should have got you some traction somewhere though?

I ran a wedding site for a while and even then (about 7 years ago) it was hard to find anything to write about that hadn't been covered elsewhere 100 times. The odd examples that were original were used as inspiration elsewhere soon enough - not exact copies but near enough to be obvious.

I don't miss it.

 

[WeddingsInWales]

In my case with the wedding site we put a load of material to do with planning a wedding at the castle for the benefit of Brides and Grooms who were previously asking different wedding planners the same questions and getting inconsistent replies based on the experience of the wedding planner. So it made sense to put all the procedures and planning material on the site and whenever someone asks anything about planning their wedding at the castle, I and the planners can link them straight to the relevant part of the site.

This is also helpful in avoiding any misunderstandings over what we do for our customers, and what they need to organise for themselves. The same principle applies to the other sites, where rates and terms etc are all put on the website for existing customers to interact with. It means if ever there is an argument about something, we can refer them to the relevant link on the website and of course, refer to previous versions of the site as of a given date based on back-up copies saved.

We also wrote a load of letters (I call them ALFUS - Automated Lead Follow Up System) which go out to all wedding enquirers - daily for the first 30 days, weekly for the next few months. Wedding clients get a monthly letter helping them to plan their wedding. Dog Friendly B&B enquiries get their own monthly Dog Friendly letters referring to local walks and places to visit when staying with us. Ghost Hunters get a separate set of regular letters featuring stories on paranormal occurrences experienced by Ghost Hunters on previous ghost hunts. All these letters link to the relevant story / subject on the website so the letters and the site work together.

Now if this lot gets seen by other wedding venues and hotels they will have a gem of an idea. The ALFUS increase engagement with the various niche websites and have increased conversion of enquiries to sale (by 5% in the case of weddings which given the value of these bookings is significant). I know the regular automated letters approach (we use AWeber) has caused an increase in direct visitors to the site and on Analytics I can see some pages (especially the accommodation advise pages and certain of the wedding planning pages (e.g. who pays for what?) get people reading the for a lengthy average time sometimes. I think this does increase dialogue between prospects, clients and the websites ensuring the content is well read and this in turn helps with the nightmare of slogging away at SEO work. All outgoing emails routinely refer enquirers and clients regularly to relevant parts of the website at the stage of enquiry they are at. The Jivochat service garners loads of chats a day and each one is directed to the relevant part of the site for answers, thus increasing time spent on the site.

So it is not just about writing good content, you then need to set all the reply systems uo to get prospects and clients to interact with it. Many people looking at websites are lazy and skim over content, and it is a bore for many people to read a load of text (as you are reading this, you have to concentrate) but for someone asking a specific question that is answered for them on the site, a policy of continually re-inviting customers and prospects to read the content that is relevant to their question, does make the site work as an oracle of information. Using the website in this way ensures consistency in our response and service and it then becomes a hub of information for clients. I have seen the same being done on the website of the school my children go to, which parents have to regularly visit for information on things going on at the school.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

One thing I have learned regarding content is that if you are answering questions people are asking but not finding good answers to, you're on the right track.

It sounds like you've given a lot of thought into how you can turn this to your benefit and it's refreshing to hear someone willing to put in some hard work and effort rather than looking for some kind of easy SEO trick that's going to magic your site up the rankings.

Best of luck to you, you're in a tough market.