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Posts Tagged ‘SEO’

Turn new traffic into regular traffic

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

No matter what business your site is centred on, repeat traffic is guaranteed to be a good thing. The more traffic your site attracts, and the more loyalty your site users exhibit, the better it is for your SEO.

There are very few businesses that can say that they don’t need repeat customers, but even those who can still need repeat traffic for their site’s ranking. Attracting return traffic tells the search engines that your site is valuable, and can be great for SEO.

For any site that’s working on its optimisation, the goal of getting more traffic through its pages probably seems hard enough. There are things you can do, however, to increase the likelihood of internet users returning to your pages after their first visit.

Attract users through difference and quality

There are two things that are necessary if you want internet users to come back to your site. The first is a high-quality site. If your site satisfies your users’ basic requirements of quality, you may attract a few back now and then. If your site impresses them, they’re more likely to want to return.

The second thing you need is a way to stand out against your competitors. In hosting quality content, you may already have the edge. If that’s not enough, providing an online tool, answering the right questions or providing better information can be the key. Talk to our consultants at SEO Consult Australia about how quality of content can affect your SEO.

Both of these elements are relative. If all of your competition has a low-quality site with no or little content, then you won’t have to try very hard to stand out. If your competitors are aware of the value of good content, however, you’ll have a bit more work ahead of you.

Boost your following through conversation

Once you’ve attracted a regular flow of traffic to your site, and got yourself some repeat visitors, you can nurture this following through interaction. Just like nurturing a seed into a fully-grown plant, treating a small group of regular users well, and making this treatment public, can grow your following.

Having a comments section is important for this process. This not only allows users to let you know how you’re going, it gives you some excellent opportunities to grow your community. You can start by publicly replying to comments, and build on this by doing things like posting a comment of the week or setting up a list of newly registered or valued users on your home page. This lets individual users know that you appreciate the time they’ve taken on your site. It also lets every single visitor know that you have a community that is mutually supportive. This encourages new users to join in.

Essentially, a site is going to attract return traffic if internet users want to see more of it. This is both very simple and very hard. Concentrate on building the value of your site to casual users, and you should soon see a big difference.

Tags: content, quality content, SEO, SEO Consult
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Top 10 small business SEO mistakes

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Things are difficult for small businesses both online and offline. Many small businesses try to go it alone when it comes to their site’s search engine optimisation, and many of them make major mistakes that put profits back.

It’s essential to do your research if you’re planning on optimising your small business site. Sometimes, it’s more important to be aware of the mistakes that others have made than it is to know all of the intricate tricks of the trade. When preparing to optimise the site for your small business, watch out for these pitfalls:

Not researching keywords. Keyword research is vital. Invest time in it, and resources if you can.
Concentrating on search engines. It’s important to remember that the ultimate audience for every SEO technique is your target user group. Sites that concentrate only on the search engines tend to lose ranking places, as the search engines look to please users too.
Optimise for the home page. Internal pages can be very valuable to your optimisation plan. Pick out a few main pages to work with as well.
Failing to test properly. When you’re working with a search engine optimisation company, you can rely on their resources to test your optimisation plan. When you’re optimising on your own, you need to set time aside for A/B testing if you can.
Using one keyword across the site. Every business will have one keyword that seems to be the key to success in their industry, but it’s important to diversify. Not only does having a list of keywords mean that you potentially reach a broader audience, it means you avoid triggering the search engines’ spam filters by accidentally keyword stuffing.
Always landing on the home page. Inbound links come from specific sites, with quite refined areas of interest. Improve your chances of retaining traffic by directing links to internal pages.
Failing to cross-check advice. There’s heaps of free advice out there, but not all of it is reliable.
Optimising just once. Optimisation needs to be an ongoing process. Many business owners work hard on their site, and then leave it for two years. This wastes a fair amount of time, as the process needs to be started all over again. Develop a maintenance plan and stick to it.
Ignoring the SEO industry. Things can change swiftly with SEO. It’s important to keep in touch with changes that occur in the optimisation industry. It might not be necessary to dip in every day, but once every couple of weeks will ensure you have forewarning of any changes that will affect your site.
Failing to hire an SEO professional. Sourcing the services of an optimisation professional will ensure that you avoid all of the above mistakes. Many small businesses try to optimise for themselves, which has limited effect and can prove a greater drain on resources than simply getting a professional in. You can discuss your optimisation plans with our experts at SEO Consult Australia.