There are many ways to promote a business online. But before you can get
started, you should familiarise yourself with how these digital channels work,
which options are best suited to you, and how to set up a clear plan or strategy
that will help you achieve your goals and assess your results.
1. Your online goals
Key Learnings
Taking your business online offers a lot of opportunities, but with so many options,
it's easy to spin your wheels and lose focus. Setting specific goals can help as you
begin to navigate the digital world.
Transcript
Every business has different objectives. It’s good to know exactly what you want to
achieve online, as it can help you set the right priorities and put your plan into
place. Because you don’t want to feel too overwhelmed.
There are lots of clear ways digital can help your business. Such as, building
relationships on social networks, selling online, finding new customers. Or even
keeping existing ones. It’s good to start by asking yourself a simple question: why,
exactly, do I want to be online? Imagine you own a hair salon. Your ultimate goals
could be: to cut more people’s hair, sell more premium services than the standard
haircut and sell more of the products you offer. But before anyone can walk
through your door, they have to know you exist. This is a great goal that digital can
help with. So let’s start with that one: getting the word out in the digital world.One
easy win is listing your business in local online directories. So, when people look
for hairdressers on search engines or online maps, your business will show up.
Then you might decide to build a website to share information about your
business. This could be things like your opening hours, your location, your prices
and the services you offer. Maybe even photos and videos that could entice new
customers to walk through your door. You could set up a social media page on
Facebook or Twitter where you could post photos of your creations, offer special
deals and really connect with your customers.
As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of you. Your
goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning
visitors into paying customers.
You could add new features to your site. Things like online appointment
scheduling, a “reviews” section where people can say nice things about you, or
even an ecommerce store to sell your hair and beauty products online.
Now that you’re using digital to attract visitors, and turn them into customers, you
could start expanding your business by investing in online advertising.
Whatever your ultimate digital goals are, or where you currently stand, your
priorities will naturally change and grow with your business.
Now to make sure you’re meeting your objectives, it’s really important to measure
your progress along the way.
This is called “analytics”. Analytics lets you know what’s working well, and what
could be tweaked.
We’ll dive into this more later, but with digital you’ve got lots of options for
measuring your success.
So let’s recap. Before you dive into the digital world, think about exactly what you’d
like to achieve. Then, prioritise different online opportunities to help you
accomplish your goals.
In the next few videos, we’ll help you plan. First, by looking at different ways you
can establish a digital presence.
Next, the different ways to market yourself online.
And lastly, how you can measure and improve your digital endeavours.
2. Building your online presence
Key Learnings
Let’s take a look at all the options for launching your business online, step by step.
We’ll cover: * local listings * social media and video * websites and mobile apps.
Transcript
Hey! We’re going to look at the first step to going digital: staking your claim online.
You’ve got lots of options for building a digital presence, including things like local
listings, websites, mobile apps and social media. If you get these basics right, it
could make a world of difference. These days, it’s easy for anyone to make a home
online. But while a website might be the first thing that comes to mind, you don’t
necessarily need to start there. Let’s say you’re a hairdresser, for example. Your
first step to finding customers online, and being found online, might be to list your
shop in local online directories like Google My Business. Then, when someone
searches Google for hairdressers in your area, you’ll appear in the results — no
website required! You could also start a Facebook page to give potential
customers a glimpse into your business and what you can do, like photos or
videos of some happy customers with great hairstyles that you’ve created. If this
is all a bit much, don’t worry. We’ve got loads of videos here to help you explore
social media in more detail.
There’s a lot you can do without a website, but at some point, you might want to
build a home of your own on the web, a one-stop-shop where your customers can
find everything they need to know about you online. Great, let’s get going! The
most important thing to think about as you start to plan your site is what you want
people to do there. For example, do you want them to ring you? If so, include your
phone number prominently on every page. Perhaps you want them to find your
physical shop? Well, include a map and driving directions. Maybe you want them
to make appointments online? That’s a feature you can build in. Or, lastly, you
might want them to actually buy products from you online, by placing an order or
submitting a payment. That’s called e-commerce, and there are a range of options
— from simple to more complex — that we’ll discuss in more detail in other videos.
Websites aren’t the only online homes anymore. These days many businesses
create mobile apps for customers which they can keep on their smartphones or
tablets.
Apps open up all kinds of digital doors — for example, you can create loyalty
programmes or automatically send reminders about upcoming appointments.
Right, to be clear: If you want people to find you on the web, you need to stake your
claim online.
That can be a listing in a local business directory, a presence on social media
sites, a simple website or one with e-commerce, a mobile app — or all of the
above.
Whatever you choose, this is the place where people find you, get to know you, and
hopefully become your customers.
3. Marketing your online presence
Key Learnings
You’re online, so now it’s time to bring in the customers you want. We’ll review how
to best help them find you, using some tried-and-
tested
online marketing
avenues: * search engines * other websites * social media * email.
Transcript
OK, so you’ve established your online home, and now you’re looking for ways to
bring more customers to your virtual front door.
Let’s discuss some great strategies to do just that using search engines, other
websites, social media and email.
So let’s talk about you, how are you going to get customers to find you online?
There are a few ways to do it using digital.
Let’s start with search engines. When people type something in a search engine,
they’re letting it know exactly what they are looking for.
If you offer relevant services and products, search engines will show your
business in the search results.
Now, there are two main ways you can use search engines, and we’ve got lots of
info to share on both.
The first is search engine optimisation, or SEO, which helps you promote your
business in the unpaid search results.
The second is search engine marketing, or SEM, which lets you buy ad space in the
search results.
SEO is all about getting your site in front of the right people who are searching for
your products and services.
Now, there are lots of ways to do this, we’ll explain them in detail later on, but the
key is knowing what words people actually type in — the keywords. They are the
most relevant words to your business.
Understanding these will help you improve how you show up when these words
are searched.
SEM, on the other hand, is when businesses pay to advertise to people searching
for specific keywords online.
Most major search engines use an auction system, where lots of different
businesses compete to show their ads by bidding on the keywords they’d like to
target.
Search is a great way to reach people, but we do lots more on the Internet. We
read news, check sports scores, browse recipes, watch videos and generally
browse lots and lots of interesting content across the web.
Alongside all of this content you might see ads. This is called display advertising.
Display ads appear everywhere online, and come in many formats like text,
images, video, and ads you can click on and interact with.
They can be a great way to get your message out there and you’re able to choose
the people you want to see your ads, and the websites and pages you’d like them
to appear on.
Social media sites like Facebook or Twitter are another option for boosting
awareness of your business, and they’re especially useful for building relationships
with customers.
On most networks you’ll create pages or profiles for your business. You can then
connect with lots of people by starting meaningful conversations and sharing
content you’ve created whilst growing your business’ online social life.
Before we wrap this up, let’s not forget one more pretty important way businesses
can use digital: email marketing.
We’re not talking about junk email, or “spam” that clutters up your inbox, but
sending relevant information and offers to people who have already said they’d
like to hear from you.
You can get people to sign up, or “opt in” to receive emails from you. Then the rest
is up to you. You can send coupons to people who have made an appointment on
your site, advertise special events, or promote sale items.
Knowing all the ways you can find people online — and knowing how they can find
you — can help launch your business big-time.
The more types of digital marketing you try, the more opportunities you’ll have to
reach your most valuable customers, wherever they happen to be in the digital
world.
4. Analyse and adapt
Key Learnings
To go digital and do it the right way, you need a well-thought-
out and flexible plan.
In this lesson we’ll talk through: * setting realistic expectations * tracking and
measuring how you’re doing * adapting to changes in technology and your
industry.
Video Transcript
Hey! By now, you know how important it is to figure out what you want to get out
of digital, how to establish your online presence, and start using digital marketing
to drive people to your digital home.
But it’s also important to make sure that your digital plan is geared toward the long
haul. Let’s go over a few ways to do that: setting realistic expectations, tracking
your results and adapting to changes in technology and your industry.
The first thing to remember: don’t expect too much too soon. It can take a bit of
time to set up your digital presence and get noticed online.
So if you’re a hairdresser launching your very first website, your online shampoo
sales probably aren’t going to go through the roof straight away.
It takes time for search engines to find you, and for you to implement and improve
your digital marketing plan. So, try not to set unrealistic goals you’re unlikely to
meet.
A crucial part of any online plan is to measure what you’re doing and make sure
it’s working. This is called ‘analytics,’ and it can show you how people are finding
your website and what they do when they get there.
We’ve got lots of videos that dive into the details of analytics, but generally,
knowing where your online visitors come from can help you figure out which of
your marketing campaigns are working and which ones aren’t.
If you know what people do once they’re on your website, it can help you figure out
if your investment in digital is working.
For example, in your hair salon, you don’t just want people to find your homepage,
you might want them to do lots of things like: watch your clever how-to videos,
make appointments, get driving directions to your shop, or actually buy something.
Tracking what people do on your site can help you to understand what’s working
and what’s not, so you can make changes and continually improve what you’re
doing. A final point to mention: it’s important to remember that the online world is
constantly changing. New tools, technologies and tactics pop up pretty much
daily. So a good plan combines the basic concepts that don’t change that often,
with forward-thinking to keep up with the latest and greatest.
Similarly, when things change in your industry, make sure your online world is kept
up to date.
Are you offering the latest hot trends in hairstyling? If hair dyes become the next
big thing, you can quickly update your adverts to show customers what you can
do.
To set yourself up for success online, you need to look before you leap. And don’t
stop looking! A good plan will consider three things: first, know your online goals,
and set yourself realistic expectations. Next, use analytics to track and measure
what you’re doing and how it’s working. And last, always keep up-to-date and
adapt to changes in technology and the industry you work in. If your plan tackles
all these things and you stay flexible, you’ll be well on your way.
BUILD YOUR WEB PRESENCE
From websites to local listings, mobile apps to social media, there are lots of ways
to be found online. If a website is the best fit for your goals, you'll need to have a
basic grasp of how they work. Even more importantly, having design and usability
best practices under your belt will help you build a website that tells your story
well, and allow your customers to find what they need.
1. Choosing your online presence
Key Learnings
There’s more than one place for people to find you online. In this lesson we’ll
explore just how important being online is these days, as well as some common
ways to do it, including: * websites * local business listings and review sites *
social media * mobile apps.
Transcript
Hiya! In this lesson, we’ll introduce you to all the ways you can create an online
presence—from websites and social media to local business listings and review
sites.
You can see just how important it is these days to be online, so let’s get going. The
most obvious way to “go digital” is with a website. Early websites weren’t much
more than online brochures that described the who, what and where.
Today’s websites can do much more. Your site can help people do research, chat
with experts, read customer reviews, watch videos, buy things, track orders – and
much, much more. If you decide that a website makes sense for you, the key is to
think about what your site actually needs to do in order to support your business
goals. We’ve got a whole lesson coming up where we’ll talk about that in detail, but
for now, don’t worry about whatever today’s shiny new technology is if it’s not
going to directly contribute to your goals.
Of course, it’s also possible to do business online without a website. If you own a
bakery, for example, you want customers to be able to find you, website or not.
Think about the last time you had a craving for a carrot cake. You probably
searched for something like ‘bakery near me’ and reviewed your options.
You might see a website for a local bakery... or you might discover a good option
in local listings.
Some businesses use local listings to create a digital presence, using products
like Google My Business and Bing Places for Business. These types of directories
let businesses publish details like descriptions, reviews, maps and images.
These listings are usually free, and are a good way to help your business appear
on results pages when people search.
Beyond local listings, there may be review sites for your specific type of business
where people can leave feedback — and you can respond. Rave reviews will give
you the edge over the competition.
You can also use social media as your digital presence. People all over the world
use Facebook and Twitter pages to complement — or in some cases replace — a
website.
Another way you can reach customers online is through their mobile. You’ve
probably downloaded apps or games on your mobile phone. You can create and
offer these apps to customers yourself.
Apps can take advantage of a mobile device’s unique capabilities, like GPS,
mapping and phone, to connect with customers.
If a customer installs your app on her mobile, the next time she’s near your shop,
the app might send her a special offer, thanks to GPS.
Apps could even let her place an order right then, so when she comes in she can
skip the queue, pick up her order and pay by tapping her mobile against the till.
Mobile apps are often used as loyalty tools, to encourage existing, frequent
customers to come back… and maybe get a free coffee with that carrot cake.
So, to recap: whether you use a website, local business listings, social media,
mobile apps, or all of the above, the trick is to decide what you want customers to
do, then create a home that accomplishes those goals. Together, these things
work as your digital storefront: your space to interact with customers online.
We’ve got lessons covering all of these areas, but for the next little while we’ll be
focusing on websites: you'll learn the basics like how websites work, how to pick
and register a proper domain name, and how to make whatever you decide to do
online as friendly as possible to your digital visitors AND support the goals of your
business. And if you keep watching, we’ll cover all of this and more.
2. How websites work
Key Learnings
If your business needs a website, the first step is to understand the basics. Here’s
a quick summary of what you’ll need to know: * what web servers do * how
domain names work * how your website uses these.
Transcript
Welcome to our lesson on how websites work. We’ll run down the basics —
without getting too technical, promise! — on web servers and domain names, what
they do for you and how to find what you need to get started. A website is your
business’s home on the Internet. It’s where potential customers can come and
learn about your business and what it has to offer them. Let’s say you decide to
open a bakery in the real world. First you’d have to rent a space to house it, right? A
website is no different. Only you’re not renting space on a high street, you’re
renting space on a server.
There are loads of services out there that take care of this automatically... but
here's a quick overview so that you have an idea about what's happening behind
the scenes. OK, hang with us, here comes a bit of technical information.
A server is a computer connected to the Internet, with software that allows it to
store or 'host' the pieces of your website: the code, the images, the video clips and
anything else that makes up your site.
It’s called a server because it ‘serves’ up the right content when requested — that
is, when someone wants to view a page on your website.
There are many companies and services that will rent you space on a server and
host your website. Just like a brick-and-mortar shop, you pay an ongoing hosting
fee, which is a bit like paying rent, leaving them to take care the technical aspects
of running a server so you don’t have to.
Every single server in the world has its own address. This is called an IP address,
which is short for internet protocol. All you need to know is, it’s a long string of
numbers that means any device connected to the internet can talk to the server
and find it. Luckily, you don’t need to understand what they’re saying to each other;
all you need to do is choose a nicer name to reference that numeric IP address.
Which brings us nicely to the second part of this session: the web address, or
‘domain name.’ Your domain name is how potential customers will find you, the
same way people would find our real-world bakery: by the sign above its door. It’s
the thing you type into the browser window to get to any website. Like
www.google.co.uk or www.yourbusinessnamegoeshere.com. Let’s take a minute
to break it down. Everything after the ‘WWW dot’ is actually what’s known as the
domain name. It’s the part that lets people find your website, so it's pretty
important. Any device that searches for this address — a tablet, a smartphone, a
laptop — is communicating with the server. The server then sends that device all
the correct pieces it needs to display the website — things like images and code —
so that whoever is on the other end of the device can view your pages. When
someone types your web address into their browser, here’s what basically
happens. First, their browser figures out which server holds the content, and heads
over to that server. The browser then says, “Hey, would you mind giving me all the
elements I need to show a person this web page?” The Server replies, “Sure, I’m
sending along 5 images, 2 scripts, and a few additional files.” The browser puts all
the pieces together, and the person sees your nicely formatted web page. And
that’s pretty much it, except they’d actually be talking in really confusing bits and
bytes, not English. But that wouldn’t make any sense to us, so...
To sum up: Deciding to build a website for your business starts with
understanding how it all works together: a server ‘hosts’ your site, and a domain
name helps people find it.
3. Key website ingredients
Key Learnings
A website consists of many parts. Build and blend them right, and you’re sure to
succeed. In this lesson, we’ll cover: * your name * the website’s organisation * text,
photos and other interactive elements.
Transcript
In this lesson we’ll talk you through some crucial early decisions you’ll make about
your website: choosing a website name and planning how your site is structured.
The goal is making it easy for customers to find their way around and get what
they want. Because a happy customer equals a more successful business, right?
Ready to go?
First up, your domain name. That’s what people will type into a web browser to find
you.
When choosing a domain name, you first need to check if the one you want is
available. There can only be one TastyBakery.com on the web, for example, and if
someone has already claimed it, you won’t be able to use it.
So, how do you know if the name you want is taken? Just do a search for 'domain
registrar' and click on one of the results. There should be a tool on the site that lets
you see if someone is already using the name you want. And, if they are, it may
suggest another similar name that’s available for you to use.
A good domain name is one that people can easily remember. Keep it as short,
relevant and as to-the-point as possible.
You may be able to get a variation of the name you want by choosing a different
extension, which is the fancy name for the bit at the end. You’re probably familiar
with the '.com' or '.co.uk' extensions, but you might find others that are available or
a better fit. For example, non-profit organizations often use '.org.' What this also
means is that although 'TastyBakery.com' may be taken, 'TastyBakery.net' may still
be available. OK, that’s the name sorted. Let’s have a look at some other common
parts of a website, like the home page. This is the first page people see after they
type in your domain name and get to your website. The home page is your shop
window, where you invite people in and explain what you’re all about. A home page
also directs visitors to other pages of your website through what we call
'navigation'. Your navigation headings may run across the top of a page or down
the side. Either way, it’s a menu that lets people travel from one part of the site to
another.
How you organise the site is very important. Start by thinking about the websites
you visit regularly. How are they organised?
Now, decide what kind of content you want to offer, and then group it together in
ways that make sense. Incidentally, many website-building tools offer business
website templates that can help you get started.
One easy place to start? The pages and sections you see on most websites: things
like 'About' and 'Contact' pages. Your website’s Contact page might include your
address, phone number, email and a map with directions.
The About page might tell the story of your business and include photos of some
of your best work. There’s no right or wrong way to organise a site, but you’ll
always want to put yourself in your visitor’s shoes. What’s he or she looking for?
What are they trying to accomplish on the website?
Now, you want to set things up so it’s super-easy for visitors to find the
information they need, like the bakery’s working hours, or complete important
goals, like submitting an online order.
Let’s check out what you’ll see on the pages themselves.
First, you’ll notice those navigation signposts, like the About and Contact
headings. They should appear on every page of your site so that people can
always get to where they want to go, or back to where they’ve been.
Of course, there will also be words, or text: headlines, paragraphs, bulleted lists.
And you might also have things like images and video.
Text and images can also be set up to link to other pages on the Internet when
they’re clicked. These are known as 'hyperlinks', or shortcuts to other pages either
on your site or elsewhere on the web. Many websites also invite customers to
interact, with features like forms to submit questions, maps with turn-by-turn
directions to your store or shopping baskets to buy products directly. Your website
— your digital storefront — is a great opportunity to connect with customers.
Choosing the right domain name, organising the site logically and including nifty
features can help your visitors find exactly what they’re looking for.
4. Websites and your business goals
Key Learnings
When creating your website, consider how to combine your business goals with
what your visitors want. In this lesson, we'll talk about: * using your site to further
your business goals * thinking like a customer * telling your story online.
Transcript
It’s time to take a look at meeting your customers in the middle—that is, how your
website can unite your visitors’ wants with your business needs. We’ll walk
through how to think like a customer and design your website accordingly, all
without losing sight of your own goals.
So you’re starting to design your site. As you do this, keep your goals in mind, but
also consider what your visitors are looking for. Marrying what you want people to
do on your site and what they want to do is the secret to success.
Here’s an example. Think of the last time you went to a website looking for a
phone number. Maybe you wanted to ring a shop to ask a question or get
directions. Was the number easy to find?
If you’re a business, be sure to put your phone number in a very visible
location—maybe even highlight it—on every page of your site. You might even
consider adding some text encouraging visitors to “call now.” And make your
Contact page easy to find, in case that’s their first stop.
Also, it’s a good idea to allow mobile users viewing your site to call you with just
one click.
So, back to our local bakery. Let’s say you want more locals to visit the shop.
Meanwhile, your customers want to know how to find you when they’re craving
some fresh baguettes. Including maps on your website along with specific
directions can make you both happy.
So, what other things visitors might be looking for on your website? Prices?
Special offers? Certifications to show you’re qualified to provide a service?
By making sure all of these things are easily available, you match your business
goals with your visitors’ needs.
And If you're interested in learning how to measure what your visitors are doing on
your website with analytics, check out our lessons on that topic, too.
Now let’s talk about content, or the actual words on your pages.
The words you use should be so much more than just a sales pitch. In most cases
you want to avoid technical jargon and chest-beating about how great you are.
Instead, explain how you can meet the needs of your customer or solve a problem
they have. By framing it in terms of what you can do to help visitors, your content
will be much more engaging, not to mention more helpful.
To achieve this, write in a tone that’s confident, but not intimidating. Unless your
audience is made up of astrophysicists, explain concepts in everyday language.
Tell a story to help connect with your visitors. Things like testimonials or videos
starring satisfied customers whose problem you solved, or letting people write
reviews about your products and services directly on your site can really help.
Remember, every second counts. People won’t be on your website for long, and
they may scan words quickly or not at all. But images, headlines and clear
navigation can help them find exactly what they’re looking for before they move
on.
Design and build your website with your business goals and your visitors’ desires
in mind, and it will have a much better chance of success.
5. Make your website easy to use
Key Learnings
Visitors to your website should be able to navigate and interact with your site
easily – that's called usability. Bring them back again and again by: * providing
simple and clear navigation * creating a consistent layout * writing relevant and
effective content.
Transcript
Hello! Welcome to our lesson on website usability. That’s digital speak for making
it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for and accomplish what they want.
We’ll go over the best ways to improve usability, from how to provide simple and
clear navigation to the importance of a consistent layout. We’ll also explain how
your writing can make your site more effective.
Sound good?
First, let’s look at navigation: the stuff that guides visitors around your site.
Good navigation means arranging your site in a way that makes sense for your
visitors.
If you have a physical shop, like a bakery, think of how your goods are grouped
there. Big items like cakes and pies might be in one area, while individual treats
like croissants and cupcakes are in another.
On your site, you can organize things the same way, and have the main menu
navigation tell visitors what they’ll find in each section, like signs in your shop.
In spite of all of this, your site may not make perfect sense to everyone. That’s why
including a search box might be a good idea, especially if your site has lots of
pages or products. Put the search box in the same place on every page of your
site, so it’s easy to find, and visitors who are in a rush will always be able to find it,
and whatever they’re looking for.
One last thing to consider about navigation: When people visit any site on the web,
they expect things to work a certain way.
Say you’re browsing a site and you want to get back to the home page—what do
you do? Click on the logo.
This is something visitors will expect, and it’s common to nearly every website, so
be sure your logo is clearly displayed on every page, and that a click on it takes
them “home.”
That’s navigation navigated. Now let’s talk about style and the way your site looks
and feels. Everyone has their own tastes, but there are some general guidelines to
follow.
First, consider your page layout. It should be consistent across your site, with
similar fonts, images and other design elements.
When it comes to color, you may be inclined to go bold to grab attention. But
online, most people are used to reading dark text on a light background. You’ve
worked hard to create your content—make sure your visitors’ eyes don’t cross
when they try to read it.
You also need to be conscious of where on the page your content ends up. Don’t
make people scroll down too far to see the important stuff. Use headers and
bulleted lists to help them quickly scan your pages and decide if it’s worth their
time to stay.
Write for your audience. Are they a highly technical bunch? Then jargon is A-OK.
Otherwise, write for the everyman.
Another tip? Encourage visitors to take an action while visiting your site. This is
called - can you guess it? - a “call to action,” and it can help them understand what
to do next.
Want them to pick up the telephone? Tell them to “Call now.” Hoping they’ll pay
you a visit? Point them to “Get directions to our store.” Or nudge them to make a
purchase with a “Buy now!”
So, let’s review. When you’re creating a website, try your best to make it easy to
use. Give visitors a clear roadmap to your site’s pages, keep design consistent
throughout, write content that speaks their language, and give them the experience
they’re looking for.
6. Website design do’s and don’ts
Key Learnings
When designing your website, watch out for mistakes that often chase customers
away. In this lesson, we'll outline some ways to avoid frustration, such as: *
quick-loading pages * mobile-friendliness * general accessibility.
Transcript
You’ve heard the expression “you only get one chance to make a first impression,”
right?
Well, it holds true online, too.
This lesson can help you avoid common mistakes in your website design that can
drive visitors away.
We’ll cover how to make sure your pages load fast, making your site mobile
friendly, general accessibility and the quality of your content.
First, you need speed. Internet users aren’t famous for patience, and if your pages
take too long to load, they’ll leave.
There are lots of technical things that you, or whoever builds your website, can do
to speed things up, like choosing the right technologies and hosting solutions.
But there are also some simple fixes.
If you have images on your pages, use the smallest ones you need. Ditch large,
high-resolution files if they’re only going to appear as thumbnails. Plenty of
software programs can resize or compress images to make them smaller, and this
translates to faster loading times.
Simplify your design. Generally, the more you limit what your visitors’ browsers
have to download and re-use, the faster pages will load.
Use the same background image across many pages, and ask whoever is building
your website to be efficient with code and scripts.
If you want to test how you’re doing, try opening the site on your mobile - using a
data connection, not WiFi - and see how quickly it loads.
Next, make sure your website is easy to use on a mobile. More and more people
are using their smartphones as their primary device for browsing the web, and if
your site is difficult to use on these devices, you’ll potentially lose customers.
The easiest way to have a mobile-friendly website is to build it that way from the
start, using an approach like “responsive design,” which automatically detects the
type of screen being used and displays the site accordingly—doing things like
stacking text and photos vertically on a smartphone being held upright.
If you want to get a sense for whether your site is mobile-friendly, try Google’s
Mobile-Friendly Test tool.
Keep in mind things like swiping or tapping, which are unique to touchscreens. Be
sure the components of your website respond properly to these kinds of “inputs.”
Using widely recognised icons and making content clear and well organised will
help visitors using smaller screens to find what they need.
Next, make it easy to find your address and phone number. Many devices are
equipped with GPS and mapping features, which can help visitors on-the-go. And
of course, when accessing your website from a mobile, it should be easy for
visitors to give you a ring.
You’ll also want to remember that people will be viewing your site on different
browsers—like Chrome or Firefox—and different platforms, like Windows or Mac.
Do a test run from as many computers, devices and browsers as you can. Does
your site look right in every case? Are you prompted to download plug-ins? That’s
an extra step that may send visitors away.
Last, remember that your website is not just for selling—it’s for solving.
Imagine you’re a visitor. Ask yourself, why am I here? What am I trying to do? What
problem am I trying to solve?
For example, if you own a bakery that makes custom cakes, someone is probably
visiting your site because they need one.
You could write pages about your decorating style and inspirations. But a
testimonial and photos from a real-life customer might be a better bet.
So those are some common mistakes that trip up many websites. To avoid them,
make sure your pages load quickly, and look and behave properly, no matter what
device and browser a visitor uses.
And think of your customers when you create content. Answer their needs, and
you have the best chance of bringing them in
PLAN YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS STRATEGY
From identifying your goals to knowing how to track your progress, this topic will
show you how to put your best foot forward when creating a digital business
strategy. Learn how to stand apart from the competition and how to impress
customers at every point of their experience.
1. The benefits of an online strategy
Key Learnings
An online business strategy can boost your chances of digital success, helping
you to define clear goals and focus your online activity. In this lesson, we'll explore:
* how an online business can benefit from a business strategy * best practices
when creating a business strategy * examples of common goals and popular
strategies to achieve them.
Transcript
So you want to know more about online business strategy, or perhaps improve
your current strategy?
In this lesson, we’ll explore how creating an online business strategy can have a
positive impact, what a good strategy looks like, and common things you can
implement to achieve your business goals.
An online business strategy helps get all the ideas out of your head and into a
usable format. This can help define objectives to work towards, and increase your
clarity and focus.
Imagine you've set a new fitness goal to become more flexible. Now, going for a
10 mile run may be great for your cardio, but it won't help you achieve that bendy
yoga position you’ve got your eye on.
In order to do that, you’ll base your workout around key areas that will help you
achieve your goal, in this case becoming more flexible. Running may be a part of it,
but stretching is more likely to help you succeed. Likewise, identifying actions
tailored to your goals will provide you with a better understanding of how to meet
your business needs.
So where do you start?
The first step is to clearly define your goals. Perhaps you’d like to increase sales
by 20%, or identify 100 potential customers? Setting goals will provide you with
direction and a clear path to follow.
Next up is articulating what your business stands for. This can be represented by a
simple sentence, generally referred to as a mission statement. For example, this
might be “to inspire healthier communities” or “to provide fun spaces for everyday
fitness".
You also need to identify your Unique Selling Point (or USP) - this is what makes
you stand out from your competition online. Find out what makes you different by
looking at businesses doing similar things, and work out what sets you apart. For
example, if customer service is what sets you apart from your competition, this is
your Unique Selling Point.
Understanding what you want to achieve can help you make the right decisions at
the right time. Here are some typical goals and the strategies that can be used to
address them:
Increase sales: If your goal is to improve online sales, driving more traffic to your
website can help.
There are many many ways to achieve this, from paid advertising to content
marketing.
Next up: Increase awareness of the business or brand
Social media is a popular way to increase brand awareness to both new and
existing customers. It provides a platform to express your values, personality, and
engage with your audience.
Finally: Grow your email marketing list
To encourage customers to sign up to email marketing, try clearly communicating
what your audience can expect to receive, whether it’s exclusive content or
member-only updates.
So how do these benefits stack up in real life? Let’s take a look at Rachel's Kitchen,
who used a strategy to maximise their impact online.
If this lesson has got you thinking about your own online business strategy, be
sure to explore the additional resources at the end of this topic to learn more.
2. Taking a business online
Key Learnings
When taking a business online, understanding how customers browse on the web
is an important factor in ensuring your online efforts are rewarded. In this lesson,
we will explore: * customer behaviours online, and how these overlap with offline
behaviours * the "See, Think, Do, Care" framework, and how to use this to help
understand the online customer journey * how to group your audiences using
audience segmentation.
Transcript
In this lesson we will look at the differences between online and offline customer
behaviours. We’ll also cover how audience segmentation can help you choose
where to focus your digital efforts when moving online.
So what are the key differences between a customer in a physical shop and a
customer online?
Imagine you just set a personal goal to improve your fitness, and now need new
running shoes. In the offline world your journey might go a bit like this:
You visit the local shopping centre, going from shop to shop. Ultimately, you make
a decision based on price, quality, returns policy, friendliness of staff, and stock
availability. You process all that information, head back to the store with the shoes
you liked best, and make the purchase.
When it comes to online purchasing, you’re likely to engage in four distinct stages
throughout your online shopping journey. Theses principles are described in the
“See, Think, Do, Care” framework, and offer a useful way to identify where a
business should invest effort in connecting with customers. Let’s take a look at
our shoe shopping example, while highlighting these four stages:
In the SEE stage, you notice that some of your friends have taken up running, and
are posting maps of their favourite routes on their social media accounts. This
inspires you to start running yourself. In the THINK stage, you get your phone and
type ‘what are the best running shoes for beginners?’. This introduces you to a
whole lot of online content, from blog articles to targeted ads, giving you more
factors to base your decision on. Eventually, you make your purchase, which
makes up the DO stage, and perhaps post a photo on social media. This last step
of sharing your purchase is part of the CARE stage.
Keep in mind that customers don’t necessarily experience all four stages every
time - your individual journey might begin at the THINK stage, or end at the DO
stage.
Now let’s combine offline and online activities together. Imagine you are in the
sport shop having just tried on the new running shoes. You get out your phone and
search for them online - perhaps checking if they are cheaper elsewhere. The
chances are you might buy online after visiting a physical store- an approach
called ‘showrooming’.
Understanding the differences and similarities between online and offline
shopping can help you create a more balanced online customer experience.
So how can you identify where to focus your efforts online? To choose the right
channels, find out out who you’re talking to, when you should talk to them, and
what you should talk about. This is called audience segmentation.
You can segment customers in many ways, from basic demographics like age and
gender, to specific interests. For example, segmenting customers by location may
benefit an e-commerce store if certain products are only available to ship to
specific areas. Segmentation can also help with your online advertising; as most
channels allow you to target paid advertising to specific audiences, based on
information like what an audience likes or dislikes. You can also make your ads
appear only to people within a certain radius of your shop or business, which can
be handy when offering promotions to local shoppers.
To wrap up, when it comes to taking a business online, think about the customers
and put yourself in their shoes: which channels do they use most? How do you
engage differently with them online and offline?
3. Understanding customer behaviour
Key Learnings
Create the best possible online experience for customers by understanding how to
make the most of the moments when they interact with a brand. In this lesson,
we'll explore: * what customer touchpoints are * how to map common online
customer journeys * how to identify customer touchpoints that generate business
goals.
Transcript
Customers are the key to success, which is why understanding and nurturing them
is so important. In this lesson we’ll look at the importance of customer
touchpoints, how to use them to map the journey customers take online, as well as
how improving the customer experience can help you achieve your goals.
So how can you make a customer’s experience better? Let’s start by explaining
customer touchpoints and why they’re important. A touchpoint is any stage when
a customer, or potential customer, comes into contact with a business.
Touchpoints are used a lot in offline business, particularly in retail. They can be
receipts, bags, signage, customer service counters, and many other points along
the way. Online, they can be a valuable way for businesses to build brand loyalty
and trust. When a customer encounters a touchpoint multiple times, such as
online ads, this provides consistent value and creates ongoing positive
associations with a brand.
While people don’t all look and think the same, the way they buy things, and the
touchpoints they interact with, have many similarities. To understand online user
behaviour, you need to establish what those touchpoints are and where they take
place.
To identify them, try mapping the journey a customer takes. Once you know the
steps they take to get to you, you can plan how to impress them at every stage.
Imagine a marathon - once you know the route, you can plan in strategic points to
rest, drink, or top up your energy levels. The purchase journey is the same -
knowing the route gives you an understanding of exactly how you need to
strategise your online approach.
Because there are so many potential interaction points, figuring out the journey
may seem overwhelming at first. To make it easier, try putting yourself in the
customer’s shoes.
Ask yourself:
- where do I go when I need answers?
- where do I normally spot new brands or businesses?
- what helps me make a purchase decision? and
- do I see a brand again after I’ve made the purchase?
Another option is to ask customers directly about the route they took to find you. A
simple face-to-face or online survey can break this journey down step-by-step,
making it clearer and easier to visualise.
Once you understand the route a customer takes, it’s all about making sure the
relevant touchpoints chosen are effective in drawing people in. If you have a
website, does it tell a potential customer what they want to know whilst keeping
existing customers interested? The more value a site has to someone, the more
likely it is they will want to return to it.
Social media is another great tool to develop touchpoints and can help give a
business character and a personal feel. Remember your customers are real people
- so connect with them in a way that’s relatable and engaging.
Once your touchpoints are set up, remember to regularly review how they’re
performing. For example, if your product or service is suddenly becoming popular
with a new audience, like teens, you may need to make adjustments to your
touchpoints, so that they resonate directly with that age-group.
To wrap up, here are some quick reminders to help you work on your own
touchpoints:
- think about the journey you take as a customer when you buy something, and
apply this information to your business scenario
- if you can, talk to customers to get real-world info on the touchpoints they
encounter
- analyse touchpoint performance and optimise your message if required, so that
the customer’s needs always come first.
4. How to stand out from the competition
Key Learnings
Understanding the competition is a key component of your online strategy,
enabling you to position a business correctly in the marketplace. In this lesson,
we'll explore: * how to identify what makes a business stand out in a busy
marketplace * why Unique Selling Points (USPs) are important and how to
construct them * online tools available to help you research the competition.
Transcript
Healthy competition keeps us on our toes and increases our drive for success. In
this lesson, we’ll explore how to identify what makes a business stand out online,
why you should be checking out your competitors, and what tools can help you get
ahead of the game.
Let’s start with this question: what makes you stand out?
Imagine you own a basketball gear shop. What would make your brand distinct
compared to other sports shops selling basketball equipment?
Maybe your shop’s exterior is painted in bright red, or you have an eye-catching
window display, or perhaps you’ve even hired someone to shoot some hoops
outside to grab people’s attention as they walk by.
As a physical store you need to stand out. The same is true in digital. When we
identify what makes us different from the competition online, we call that our
Unique Selling Point, or USP.
A Unique Selling Point is a clear statement that describes the benefits you offer,
how you might solve your customer’s needs, and what distinguishes you from the
competition.
4 key questions to ask yourself when defining your USP are:
- who is my target audience?
- who are my competitors?
- what problems does my target audience have?, and
- how can I solve them?
Once you ask these questions, you can piece together a concise statement that
incorporates the answers. Here are a few pointers to remember.
Speak in a human voice. Be as natural and relatable as you can and remember,
you are trying to attract people, not robots.
Shout about it. Your USP should be displayed on your website, social media, and
other marketing materials. A good USP won't appeal to everyone, but that’s ok.
Build a USP that is tailored and speaks directly to your target audience.
Other things to consider while working on your USP are your strengths and
weaknesses.
To do this, use a SWOT analysis, which will help ensure business decisions are
well informed. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats.
Ask yourself:
- what is it we’re good at? These are your strengths
- what can we do better? These are your weaknesses
- how can we grow, change and improve? These are your opportunities
- what is happening or could happen, both internally and externally, that might
affect us negatively? Those are the threats.
While constructing your USP, it’s a good idea to check what the competition is up
to. When starting a competitor analysis, make sure to utilise the free tools
available online. Start with search engines, which can offer the most immediate
answers.
Simply search for your key terms and make note of:
- who appears in the top results on search engines for your product or service
- which keywords appear on their website, that is, what words are they using in the
page titles on their website, and
- what messaging they use on their social media.
Another way to stay up to date with what competitors are doing is through signing
up to alerts systems. Free tools like Google Alerts show you who is talking about
certain topics online, so they help you keep your finger on the pulse. Try setting up
alerts for key products or services, as well as your own business and competitor
names. You’ll then receive notifications when the terms you enter are discussed
online, and be able to see how your business or the business you work for
compares.
Let’s take a look at how these tips can be applied to help you stand out online:
So what makes you different online? Use the tips from this lesson to find out what
your competition is doing, and use a SWOT analysis to identify what makes you
stand out.
5. Using goals to improve business performance
Key Learnings
When marketing your business online, it's important to use the data and metrics
available to evaluate how your online activities are performing. In this lesson, we'll
explore: * why setting goals and KPIs is so important to online businesses * how
to construct a KPI using the SMART framework * how to analyse data gathered to
help improve online marketing efforts.
Transcript
In this lesson, we’ll cover how setting and tracking specific goals can help you
understand and improve business performance. You’ll also learn about Key
Performance Indicators and how these can be used to evaluate the effectiveness
of processes most important to achieving your goals.
Let’s dive in: Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are quantifiable measurements
used to focus attention on the metrics most important to meet business goals.
They are also useful in helping a team understand how progress will be tracked
and measured.
There are many ways to construct KPIs, but they should all be measurable,
practical, achievable, and provide direction. So what does a KPI look like in the real
world?
Meet Ryan. He owns a chain of fitness centres called ‘Fit Gym’. He needs to make
sure that he has enough customers to keep the business growing. To do this, Ryan
wants to sign up at least 50 new members per gym a month. This would be his
goal. To help achieve this goal, Ryan now needs to set KPIs that will measure the
efforts his staff make towards meeting this target.
Here are the KPIs Ryan has identified for his sales staff, based on actions that can
help improve membership sign-up rate.
The sales team should:
- reach out to 20 prospective customers per day
- respond to all online queries on social media and email within 15 minutes of
receiving them during working hours; and
- renew or upsell 8 existing gym memberships per month.
Analysing results against these KPIs will accurately assess which employees meet
the expected standard, and help identify who needs additional sales training.
When you consider your business or the business you work for, remember that a
KPI can be anything that gets you closer to achieving your goal. From sales calls
to posts on social media, email list sign-ups to customer satisfaction ratings,
make sure you choose the KPI that best fits your needs.
So how do you know what your KPIs should be, and how do you measure them?
KPIs should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. By
creating them this way, you can ensure they will be clear and achievable. Try
creating your own KPIs and see if you can answer the following:
a. Is this KPI specific enough?
b. Can it be measured?
c. Can employees attain this?
d. How relevant is it to the wider business objective?
e. And lastly, when is it due to be delivered or carried out?
An example KPI could be to increase sales figures by 25% compared to last year.
This is both specific and measurable, and reviewing your previous sales figures
will allow you to determine whether or not it’s attainable. Increasing sales is key
for business growth, which would be an overall business objective, and comparing
year on year makes it timely.
Remember to evaluate both KPI results and the KPIs themselves on a regular
basis, and respond to the data accordingly. For example, if Ryan’s sales
employees are struggling to meet the 15 minute average response KPI due to the
volume of enquiries, perhaps he needs to consider increasing the number of staff
per shift to meet the demand. This will ensure prospective customers remain
happy when their enquiries are responded to quickly, as well as ensure his staff
don’t burn out.
When it comes to setting goals and KPIs in your own business environment,
ensure that they’re specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and have the forward
thinking to help you achieve your long-term plan. Take some time now to think
about the KPIs you would set, and how you could measure these to get closer to
your goals.
GET STARTED WITH SEARCH
Search engines make it simple to find what you're looking for with a click of a
button. But how do they work, and how can you improve your visibility on them?
Learn the difference between organic and paid search results and why advertising
on search engines is so effective.
1. Search engine basics
Key Learnings
Search engines catalogue the Internet to help connect searchers with exactly what
they're looking for. That makes them a great marketing tool. This video covers: * a
brief history of search engines * how search engines changed business * why
search is a good place to start.
Transcript
Hey! In this video, we’ll talk through some of the history behind search engines.
We’ll explain how search engines have changed business, and tell you why they’re
a great place to market your business on.
OK, so where did search engines come from? One of the earliest search engines
was a program called Archie, which debuted in 1990 and allowed people to access
and search file names—basically the names of the web pages. But, Archie couldn’t
tell you what was on those pages.
Fast forward a few decades, and search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo!,
Ask.com, AOL, Baidu, and Yandex have come a long way. These search engines
use incredibly sophisticated computer programs to sort through a massive
number of web pages.
Most search engines basically work in the same way. When a person wants to find
something, they type in a word or phrase, called a search query.
Then, the search engine compares that query to its catalogue of web pages,
pulling out the best matches to show the searcher. These are displayed on a
search results page.
Their goal is to create the most relevant list of results possible, to help searchers
find what they are looking for. The results page includes links to websites, but you
might also see local business listings, items for sale, advertisements, images,
maps, videos and more.
So how does this apply to you?
Well, imagine you own a coffee shop. If someone searches for coffee shop
Cotswolds— that’s you!—this is the perfect opportunity to appear on the search
results page.
In the same way, if you’re a technician who repairs air conditioning units, or a local
takeaway ready to deliver dinner, you want to show up when people search for
related words and phrases.
Why? Because the words entered into the search engine indicate the searcher is
interested in your products and services, right now.
See why search is such a great place to be? It’s a way to target people who are
already looking for you.
Don’t just take our word for it. Many marketers will tell you that search is essential
to their online marketing strategy, and the numbers back this up.
Does this mean you should ignore other ways of advertising online? Of course not!
Your plan can and should include lots of different ways to promote your business,
like social media, email marketing, and display advertising.
But, if you’re a business interested in promoting products and services online,
being on search is a pretty safe bet.
2. How search engines work
Key Learnings
Search engines examine all the pages on the World Wide Web, categorise them
and put them into a logical order when you search for something. Understanding
how this works can help your business. This video will cover: * how search engines
find web pages * what they do with the web pages they find * how they decide
what to show on search results pages.
Transcript
Hi there! Welcome to our video explaining how search engines work. We’ll give you
the basics on how search engines find web pages, what they do with the pages
they find, and how they decide what results to show.
When you’re using a search engine to find the closest coffee shop, you’re probably
not thinking about search engine technology. But later you might wonder, how did
it do that? How did it sort through the entire Internet so quickly, and choose the
results you saw on the page?
Each search engine uses their own software programs, but the way they work is
pretty similar. They all perform three tasks:
First, they examine content they learn about and have permission to see (that’s
called crawling).
Second, they categorise each piece of content (that’s called indexing).
And third, they decide which content is most useful to searchers (that’s called
ranking).
Let’s take a closer look at how these work.
Search engines “crawl” the Internet to discover content, like web pages, images
and videos. Each search engine uses computer programs called “bots” (short for
robot), “crawlers” or “spiders” to make their way through the pages.
The bots hop from page to page by following links to other pages. These bots
never stop; their sole purpose is to visit and revisit pages looking for new links and
new content to include in the index.
Indexing is the second part of the process. The index is a gigantic list of all the
web pages and content found by the bots. The search engine uses this index as
the source of information displayed on the search results pages.
But, not everything the bots find makes it into a search engine’s index.
For example, search engines may find multiple copies of the exact same piece of
content, located on different websites.
How is that possible? Well, imagine you’re not searching for a coffee shop, but a
coffeemaker. You might notice that the top-of-the-line CoffeeKing2000 has the
same word-for-word description on the websites of many major retailers. The
description might have been provided by the manufacturer... but now the search
engine has decisions to make: which version to keep in the index? There’s no need
for hundreds of duplicates, so it’s unlikely that every page will be added.
So if you own a website that’s selling coffeemakers, you’re likely better off writing
your own description of the CoffeeKing2000.
Make sense?
That covers crawling and indexing, which just leaves us with ranking. When you
type in a search, the engine compares the words and phrases you use to its index,
looking for matching results. Let’s say, for example, the search engine finds 230
million matching results. Now it’s time for the last part of the search engine’s task:
ranking.
The way search engines rank pages is top secret—it’s their ‘special sauce.’ There
are hundreds of ways search engines determine rank, including things like the
words on the page, the number of other websites linking to it, and the freshness of
the content.
But no matter what formula they use to determine rank, the goal remains the
same: to try to connect the searcher with what they are looking for.
Say you’ve read about an Australian-style cappuccino called a flat white and you
want to try it. If you search for “flat white coffee near me” the search engine will
show you nearby shops selling the drink, because your search indicated your
location. You might even see a map to help you find them.
So, what have we learnt? Search engines are constantly working to scour the web
for content, organise it and then display the most relevant results to searchers.
Understanding this process will help you make your website the best it can be.
3. How search engines see the web
Key Learnings
If you want to make sure your website turns up in more search engine results, stay
tuned for this video, which includes: * how search engines understand what's on a
web page * which parts of a web page help search engines do this * how to make
your web pages more visible to search engines.
Transcript
Hello there, and welcome to our video looking at how search engines see web
pages.
We’ll go over how search engines understand what’s on a web page, which parts
of a web page specifically help them, and how you can make your pages more
visible to search engines.
In simple terms, when you ask a search engine to find something, it looks through
a huge list of previously indexed pages, called “the index,” and pulls out relevant
results based on what you’re looking for.
Pages make it into “the index” only after the search engine has determined what
they’re about. That way, it can file them in exactly the right place amongst the
other pages, and find them the next time a search relates to their content.
By knowing how a search engine decides what a page is about, you can optimise
your pages to make sure they show up in the search results of people looking for
websites just like yours.
Let’s say you own a coffee shop, and you’ve got a website to promote it. When you
look at a page on the site you see this.
But when a search engine looks at the same page, in addition to seeing what you
see on your screen, it also sees the code behind it, called HTML.
Specific parts of this code help the search engine understand what the web page
is all about. And knowing which parts are important can help you to optimise your
site.
First, the title of the page in the code.
In this example, you can see the title in the tab at the top: “Cotswolds Coffee
Shop.” The search engine sees the title enclosed in a piece of code called a title
tag. It looks like this:
Cotswolds Coffee Shop
Many websites can be edited using tools that handle all the HTML coding for you -
that’s called a content management system, or CMS. If you use a CMS to make
changes to your website, there’s probably a place to add this title, too.
You can help the search engine index your page properly by making sure your page
title accurately describes its content. That way it can show up in relevant
searches.
The next thing you’ll want to think about is the page’s text. Think about who you
want to visit your page, and what words they’re using to describe your products
and services. Do they talk about fair trade coffee? Do they use the term
cappuccino instead of macchiato? These are probably the terms they’re also using
to search.
Try to speak the language of your customers when you write your content.
Because this can help ensure they’ll find your pages when they search.
Finally, let’s talk about the page’s images.
Search engines won’t see the mouth-watering photos of your coffee creations in
the same way we do - which is a shame. But what they will see is the code behind
it.
To help search engines identify the image, give it a descriptive name.
For example, image.jpg is not a great file name for search engines. Whereas,
something that describes exactly what’s in the picture, like
iced-peppermint-mocha.jpg, is.
You can even take it one step further by adding “alternative text” in the code with
your image. Known as an “Alt tag,” it describes the image, which is useful for
people using web browsers that don’t display images, or for people with visual
impairments who use software to listen to the content of web pages.
In the HTML, the ALT tag will appear something like this:
src="http://www.example.com.com/iced-peppermint-mocha.jpg" alt=”Iced
Peppermint Mocha”>
Again, if you use a content management system to update your website there’s
probably a place to add an Alt tag, too.
So remember: Use descriptive, unique titles for each page on your site. Write for
your customers, but remember to include important words and phrases that can
help search engines understand what your pages are all about. And don’t forget to
name image files with descriptive words and include alternative text.
Together, all of these tips can help search engines understand your pages and put
them in front of the people that matter - your potential customers.
4. Organic search explained
Key Learnings
When a person types in a word or phrase on a search engine, a list of results
appears with links to web pages and other content related to the search. This
video covers the content found in the organic results. You'll learn: * what organic
results are * what search engine optimisation (SEO) is * how good website content
affects the organic search results.
Transcript
Hi! Are you ready to dive into the world of organic search? In this video, we’ll
explain what organic - or unpaid - results are. We’ll find out what search engine
optimisation means. And discover how good website content affects the organic
search results.
OK, let’s get started. Back to the coffee shop, and imagine that you’ve just started
offering authentic French macarons, using an old family recipe.
You know there must be other people in your city who would enjoy this
international treat. Someone might even be searching for it right now. So, how do
you help them find you?
Well, when someone searches for something using a search engine, the results
page they see contains a list of organic, or unpaid results.
Organic results typically appear in the centre of the page, and are the results the
search engine decides are the best match for the search query, or words, that were
typed in.
Results pages will also display advertisements, or paid results, though they’ll be
separate and labeled as ads. Although organic results and ads appear on the
same page, there’s one big difference: there’s no cost to appear in the organic
results.
Websites do not—and cannot—pay to appear here.
So how can you improve your website’s chances of appearing in the unpaid
results?
It all comes down to quality.
Think of it this way. The search engines’ primary goal is to help people find what
they are looking for. If you can help the search engine decide that your website is
what people are searching for, you’re in good shape.
Making improvements to your website to help it appear in the organic results is
called search engine optimisation, or SEO. Good SEO involves helping a search
engine find and understand your site.
So what do search engines like? Good, relevant content. Think about exactly what
your coffee shop’s potential customers might be searching for.
If they want a macaron,they might search for those words. But that’s a pretty
broad search and could also mean a searcher’s looking for a recipe, or an image,
or the history of the pastry.
Understanding that, it would probably be more useful for you to focus on
appearing on searches for homemade macarons, in your city. So your focus might
be to create relevant, original content that reinforces the “how”—that all your
macarons are made from scratch at your location, and the “where”—that your
macarons are available at your bakery, or delivered to certain areas. This can help
your website appear on searches for “macaron bakery”, or related searches like
“the best macaron in Cotswolds” or “readymade macaron for pick-up now.”
That’s organic search results. Showing up in them is a great way to help
customers find you—and it won’t cost you a thing.
All you have to do is make sure that your content is relevant to the people
searching, so they’ll click and stay for a visit. We have a whole lesson coming up
on this, so stay tuned!
5. Paid search explained
Key Learnings
When a person types in a word or phrase on a search engine, a list of results
appears with links to web pages and other content related to the search. This
results page is organised into different sections; this video covers the adverts.
You'll learn: * a bit about advertising on search engines * why advertising on
search engines is so effective * how advertisers compete for an opportunity to
show ads on the search results page.
Transcript
Hey there, ready to learn a bit about advertising on search engines? We’ll cover
how advertising on search engines works—that’s called SEM, or search engine
marketing. We’ll explain why it’s so effective, and how businesses compete to
show ads.
Imagine you live in the Cotswolds, you’re out running errands and are desperate for
a coffee. You pull out your mobile and search for 'coffee shop Cotswolds'.
Now you have a page full of options to consider. Every section on the page —the
map, the ads, and the search results — presents options. Who knew there would be
so many?
Some of these results are selected by the search engine’s organic formula. These
pages are considered the most relevant web pages the search engine can find for
this search. The other sections are ads.
If you take a moment to compare the ads you see to those in a print magazine, you
might notice one big difference - every ad is for a coffee shop.
You don’t see ads for unrelated things, and interestingly enough, the adverts seem
quite similar to the organic results.
This is by design, and it’s what makes paid search advertising so effective. A
search engine’s most important job is to show people the results they are looking
for, and this extends to the ads. The ads you see complement the search results
page, with the ultimate goal of helping a searcher find what they’re looking for.
So how exactly does search engine advertising work? There are several models.
Let’s take a look at one popular option, the text ads you see on search engine
results pages.
Every time someone searches advertisers compete for the opportunity to display
ads. It happens in milliseconds and the searcher won’t see the details, only the
winners: the ads that appear on the page.
So, how do search engines decide who wins? The primary components are the bid
and the quality.
The bid is the maximum amount an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on an ad.
If someone clicks the ad, the advertiser is charged an amount equal to—or
sometimes less than—the bid.
So, if an advertiser bids £2 for a keyword, that’s the most they would pay for a
single ad click. If an ad shows on the page but no one clicks, it doesn’t cost the
advertiser anything at all.
Ideally, bids correspond to the value of the keywords to the business but the
amount is up to each advertiser. Some advertisers may be willing to bid 50p for a
keyword; others may be willing to bid £10.
Bid averages vary industry-by-industry, and keyword-by-keyword.
Bids are important, but so is quality.
Winning the auction doesn’t always hinge on having the highest bid. Search
engines reward ads and keywords with strong relevance to the search. In fact, it’s
possible that relevant ads can “win” higher spots on the search results page, even
with lower bids. In some cases, no matter how high a bid, a search engine will not
display the ad if it’s irrelevant.
To summarise, paid ads offer another way to promote your products and services
on search engine results pages.
With a well-constructed search advertising campaign you can reach customers at
the very moment they’re looking for what you offer.
Want to learn more about SEM? Check out the search advertising lessons.
6. Google search console
Key Learnings
When it comes to your website, the more information you have, the better. In this
video you'll learn: * what Search Console is, and how it can help * some of its
useful features * how to set it up.
Transcript
Hey! Want a great tool to get your website more traffic? Then this is the video for
you. We’re going to tell you all about a free Google service called Search Console.
And show how it can help you, and how you can get it set up.
So what exactly is Google Search Console? Well, it's a service that gives you
feedback about how your website is doing in Google search results.
It has two primary functions. It monitors your performance in Google Search
results. And it also shows you how Google “sees” your site.
Say you own a coffee shop, and your website needs some updating. Let’s take a
closer look at a few ways Search Console might be able to help you out.
One way is through its “Search Analytics” reports. This can help you answer a few
important questions like which searches bring people to your site. Or tell you when
searchers click on your links. They can even let you know which other sites link to
yours.
Why is this important?
Well, the “Search Analytics” report shows lots of things, including the most
common searches bringing people to your site. Ideally you’d see words and
phrases relevant to your business, like:
'Coffee shop Cotswolds', 'Coffeehouse near me', 'Pastries near Cotswolds', or 'Fair
trade coffee near me'.
If you review the report and see unrelated or irrelevant words and phrases, it’s a
hint that the text on your website needs some attention.
Another thing to look for is the number of clicks. You’ll want to know how often
your site appears but gets no clicks—that’s a sign your content doesn’t match
what people are looking for.
The “Links to your site” report shows websites that link to your site. Think of these
as “referrals.” The list should include websites relevant to coffee.
More and more people use mobile devices to access the Internet, so while you’re
in Google Search Console you should also check out the “Mobile Usability Report”.
This’ll point out pages on your site that don’t work well on mobile phones, which
you can then fix to improve your website performance when people search on
mobile.
There are two more really handy features within Search Console to know about:
“Crawl” reports, and “Google Index” reports.
“Crawl” reports let you monitor whether Google can visit your web pages. This is
important because if Google can’t access your web pages, your content can’t be
included in Google’s search results.
The “Google Index” reports show what information Google recorded about your
site and tells you if your pages are accessible.
It’s easy to get started with Search Console.
Go to www.google.com/webmasters.
Once signed in, add your website and complete the verification to prove you own
the website.
Now Search Console can generate reports for your site—for free! It might take a
few days before you see useful information because it must first gather and
process the data. If you see a "No data yet" message, check back later.
Now that your site’s set up in Google Search Console, you can use the reports to
figure out how to improve your presence on Google. Using the reports, you can
make changes to help Google better understand your web pages and as a result
make your website perform better.
GET DISCOVERED WITH SEARCH
Search Engine Optimisation might sound like a mouthful, but once you understand
how search engines work you'll be on your way to becoming SEO confident. Learn
how to develop an adaptable SEO plan, identify the most effective keywords, and
which tools can help you measure what matters.
1. Intro to search engine optimisation (SEO)
Key Learnings
Understanding how search engines work can help your business improve its online
presence. This video explains: * what search engine optimisation is * how search
engines understand your website * what they value most.
Transcript
Hello!
Welcome to our introduction to search engine optimisation, also known as SEO.
In this video we’ll explain what SEO is, how search engines understand your
website, and what they value most. Because when search engines understand
your content, it will be shown to many more potential customers.
Every day, millions of people search online, for everything from airline tickets to
zoos. That means there are millions of opportunities for businesses to appear in
front of potential customers.
Let’s say you own a small farm and want to expand by selling your produce online.
SEO helps search engines understand better what you have to offer. That means,
when someone searches using a word or phrase related to your business, like, say,
heirloom tomatoes, you’re more likely to appear in their results.
When a search engine returns results some of them are paid advertisements. The
rest are unpaid results that the search engines believe are relevant to the phrase
entered into the search box. These are referred to as “organic results.”
Search engines have formulas, or algorithms, that help them order the list of
results. The search engines constantly scour the web for new content and try to
make sense of it.
Where your website appears in these results is affected by the words you use on
your site (fresh farm produce, for example) as well as other factors—such as how
many websites link to yours.
Does this seem confusing? How’s this: Think of a search engine like a
matchmaker. The goal? To find the searcher exactly what she is looking for on the
web.
But how does this work?
To present the best possible results, the engines look for as much information as
possible about websites.
They might look at how popular sites are, or what other people or sites are saying
about them.
They might consider words on web pages or keywords in the code of a page to
better understand the topic.
Each of these components will help search engines find the best match for your
search.
Search engines can now also consider the searcher’s geographic location. A
search from the UK will display a localised set of search results.
Chances are, the same search originating from France will show different results.
And, with the explosion of mobile usage, search engines now consider the devices
people use when they perform a search.
But just like a matchmaker who’s been in business for years gets better and better,
search formulas evolve and add more and more information along the way.
Are you wondering what you can do to make your site attractive to search
engines? We’ll touch more on this in other videos, but here’s a good starting point.
What search engines value most is unique, engaging, relevant content because
their job is to find and show the most useful stuff.
So there we have it. Search is a simple thing to use, and many of us use it every
day. But what’s happening behind the scenes is constantly changing. To
effectively promote your website online, you’ve got to keep tabs on what search
engines value most—and make sure your website gives it to them.
As we move along, we’ll tell you more about how search engines work and help
you create a strategy for improving SEO in order to achieve your business goals.
2. The importance of an SEO plan
Key Learnings
In this step-by-step process to create an SEO plan for your website, you'll learn
how to: * develop * prioritise * adjust the plan to best suit your goals.
Transcript
Hi there!
Once you have a good grasp of search engine optimisation (SEO), you are ready to
optimise your website. Just follow this step-by-step process to create an SEO plan,
and learn how to develop, prioritise and adjust the plan to best suit your goals.
Let’s say you want to reach new customers for your fresh-from-the-farm fruit and
veg online delivery service.
Your first step should be keyword research—that means finding out what your
potential customers are searching for.
Are they looking for organic produce? Weekly fresh vegetable deliveries?
By the way, if you want to learn more about keyword research, check out our
lesson about choosing keywords to focus on.
Next, consider related topics. Are vegetarian diets popular? Do requests for
gazpacho recipes come up?
This will help make your keywords more specific and a better match to what your
customers are looking for. You should do this at least once a year as part of your
SEO plan.
Once you’ve identified good keywords, take a look at how you’re doing in search
results for those words.
How many of these words and phrases bring up your website on a search engine?
Are there specific topics that don’t bring much traffic to your site?
This info will help you figure out what’s working for you and what’s not. If a
popular phrase like “fresh farm vegetables” isn’t pointing customers to your site,
you can address those missing pieces in your SEO plan.
Once you’ve discovered gaps in your SEO performance, your next step is to think
about how to fix them. Maybe none of the content on your site mentions that you
can arrange regular seasonal deliveries.
Is no one linking to your site? Perhaps you can invite food bloggers to check out
your farm in the hopes that they’ll mention you in a future blog post. Make a list of
anything you think might improve your SEO performance.
OK, so now you have quite a to-do list. Don’t worry. It’s just time to prioritise.
It’s natural to want to tackle the items that will give you the biggest bang first, but
be realistic. Adding an entire section about sustainable farming methods to your
site might require hiring a programmer to help, which might cost a fair bit. In the
short term, you could post a quick article about the topic on your blog.
The next step? Give yourself a deadline for each task so you’re working through
your SEO plan steadily throughout the year.
OK, once you’ve set this plan in motion, don’t just forget about it.
Your SEO plan will change over time. But how do you know when it needs
updating? One easy way is to check in when you’re making other changes in your
business, like introducing a new product or redesigning your website.
Also remember that search engines release new features and improve their
algorithms. For example, many have made adjustments because so many people
now search on mobiles.
Finally, adjust your plan when something isn’t working. Is there a web page that’s
not getting much organic traffic? It may need a refresher.
Are you attracting visitors to your site but not making sales? Perhaps you need
stronger calls to action.
Review your results regularly and shift focus to the areas that need help.
And that’s how you build an SEO plan.
Let’s recap. Start with keyword research to understand what your customers are
looking for, then use that info to assess your successes and failures.
Brainstorm solutions to improve your weak spots, and prioritise them.
And never be afraid to redo your SEO plan based on changes in your world and the
world of search engines.
Be sure to check out our lesson explaining the SEO process. That has more helpful
information to get your plan in motion.
3. The SEO process
Key Learnings
This video explains the SEO process and the steps you need to take in order to
optimise your website, including: * discovering what words or phrases people use
to search for your products or services * improving the content on your site.
Transcript
Hey there!
In this video we’ll explain why search engine optimisation is an ongoing process,
and the steps you’ll need to take to reach your goals. Such as discovering what
words and phrases people use to search for your products or services, and
improving the content on your site.
There is no shortcut for search engine optimisation (SEO), which helps you
improve your website’s visibility to people who are searching for products or
services like yours.
The first step is called keyword research: discovering what words or phrases
people are looking for when they are searching for products and services related
to your business.
Let’s say you have a small farm and have begun a fresh fruit and veg delivery
service. Once you know what people are searching for—maybe vegetarian recipes
or sustainable produce—you can optimise your content and offerings to better
match what they are looking for.
That might mean posting a weekly recipe or writing a blog about life on the farm.
The work of SEO is never done, because trends come and go, users can change
their behavior, and search engines evolve over time. Your job is to consider how
changes will impact your site and what you need to do to continue to attract
unpaid (organic) traffic.
Here are 4 quick tips on how to stay up-to-date on search.
1: Learn how search engines work.
Many have blogs that offer updates on new features, algorithm changes and
suggestions on how to better optimise your website.
2: Keep an eye on changes and monitor how they affect your website.
For instance, you might read that the major search engines made a change that
improves users’ experience on mobile search results. If your website isn’t
optimized for mobile devices you’d probably want to update your website to be
more mobile-friendly.
3: Find inspiration from other websites.
Do they offer free shipping? Are they active on social networks? Do they regularly
update their website with photos? Adopt the practices that will work for your own
business.
And finally, 4: Talk to your customers. They have the best insights on what content
your site is missing, features that are needed, or products they are looking for.
Even the way your customers describe your products can be a form of keyword
research—they likely use those same terms to search.
And there you have it: the ongoing SEO process. It’s simply understanding what
visitors want, creating and sharing the content they’re searching for and being
willing to change tactics when necessary.
4. How to choose keywords
Key Learnings
Choosing keywords is the cornerstone of successful search engine optimisation.
In this video, we'll discuss: * why you need to do keyword research * the difference
between short tail and long tail keywords * what to consider when selecting
keywords.
Transcript
Hey!
In this video we’ll discuss what to consider when selecting keywords, so that you
can reach your SEO goals and benefit your business.
Choosing keywords is the foundation of successful search engine optimisation.
Why do you need to do keyword research? Here’s an example:
Suppose someone is looking for fresh berries. What might they search for? It
could be simply berries, or it could be strawberries, blackberries, blueberries or
raspberries.
If you sell fresh berries, you need to know the terms people use most often when
searching. Ideally, you’ll match your website content to what people are actually
looking for. If you don’t, there could be a disconnect: visitors to your site could be
looking for one thing while you are talking about another.
There are three things you should consider when choosing the keywords for your
SEO plan.
First, frequency, or the number of times a word is searched for. Obviously, you
want to include the terms that people search for most often in relation to your
products. Just keep in mind that it may be difficult to differentiate your business
on highly searched-for terms.
That brings us to our second consideration: Competition. If you have a large,
established website, you may be able to appear on the search engine results for
high-volume, highly competitive keywords, like fruit and veg.
But new sites have big opportunities too: if you’re just getting started, look for
keywords that have a bit less competition.
Only a small number of keywords have very high search volume. But there’s a large
number that have low search volume.
This is what’s called the “long tail” of SEO.
While the keyword strawberries might have a lot of competition, a term like get
organic strawberries delivered in Cornwall would be an example of a long tail
keyword that might give you more immediate SEO results.
For a small business, the long tail is often where you will find your SEO
opportunities. It typically takes a website lots of time and focused efforts to
appear in the results on searches for popular generic keywords. However, smaller
websites may get good rankings for long tail keywords with less effort.
Finally, and most importantly, the third consideration is relevance. The keywords
you select should closely match what you actually offer. If someone comes to
your site looking for strawberries but you only sell raspberries, they’re just going to
leave.
Make sure your chosen keywords match the intent of the people who are
searching.
How? One option is to use Google Search Console to see which pages appear in
search and get clicks. (Stay tuned for our Google Search Console video.)
Through all your SEO efforts, remember the golden rule: Your site's content should
be made for your human visitors, not for search engines.
Don't add extra keywords or variations of keywords to your pages. Repeating them
unnecessarily is called "keyword stuffing" and is against search engines'
guidelines.
So that’s what you need to consider when selecting keywords: frequency,
competition and relevance. Keeping these things in mind will set you on the right
track for successful SEO.
5. Setting realistic SEO goals
Key Learnings
Setting realistic goals for organic traffic and assessing them with measurements
that matter will help you strengthen your SEO strategy. In this video, you'll learn: *
how to define success * how to select measurements that matter * what tools can
help.
Transcript
Hey there!
Does search engine optimisation seem intimidating to you? One way to tackle SEO
is to set clear goals, then measure your progress each step of the way.
In this video we’ll talk about why it’s important to set SEO goals. We’ll look at how
you should define success, how to decide what to measure, and what tools can
help.
When you set SEO goals, you can measure, track and report on the results. You’ll
know which efforts are succeeding—and which aren’t. And then you can adjust
things to make it work better.
Let’s start by identifying your SEO goals. What are you trying to achieve online?
How do you define success?
Imagine you own a small farm. You probably want to sell fruits and vegetables to
as many new customers as possible. And you’d like to build relationships with
existing customers through good content—and hope they eventually return to buy
more fruits and vegetables.
You’ve just identified three business goals:
Conversions: Turning website visitors into paying customers.
Engagement: Persuading people to interact with the content on your site.
Acquisition: Getting new customers.
Setting SEO goals gives you something to measure to help you better understand
how your site is—or isn’t—performing.
So how do you find out if you’re hitting the mark? Some measurements matter
more than others.
For example, it’s exciting to be number one in search engine rankings, but it’s not a
guarantee of success.
Here’s why: Let’s say your farm website is the first result when someone searches
“vegetable gardens.” You’re getting a lot of visitors to your site—but not an
increase in sales.
Maybe that’s because people searching for “vegetable gardens” want to plant a
garden, not buy your fruits and veg. The lesson? Don’t waste effort on keywords
that aren’t relevant to what you do.
So, if being number one isn’t your goal, what is? Let’s come up with a few other
ways you might measure success. Remember those goals you set above? Look at
those.
You can measure conversions by tracking the number of visitors who come to
your website and buy fruits and vegetables; or tracking a smaller action that can
lead to a sale, like signing up for your email newsletter.
You can measure acquisition and reach by tracking the number of times your
business appears in search results—your “impressions”—and how often people
click through to visit your site.
And, you can measure engagement by tracking what content your visitors read and
interact with, such as leaving comments, or how many visitors become your fans
on social media networks.
So how do you track all these things?
Analytics tools and webmaster tools provided by search engines can give you this
information—often for free. Most major search engines like Bing, Google or
Yandex offer tools like these. They’re basically a collection of reports and services
that help you track and monitor your website’s visibility in search.
Tools like these tell you which keywords bring up your website in the search
results, which web pages they link to, and how many visitors click the links to visit
your site. This is valuable information if your goal is to attract customers
searching for certain terms.
Analytics tools can also be used to better understand visitor behavior. They can
answer questions like:
How many organic visitors become customers?
Which web pages or content on your site turn visitors into paying customers?
Which content isn’t performing well?
Armed with this information you can adjust your SEO strategy to do better (or
evaluate the performance of an SEO agency, if you’ve hired one to help you).
To sum up:
To understand how your site is performing in organic search results and how it
benefits your business, set SEO goals.
To measure the success—or see where you need improvement—track your
performance in various areas. Once your goals are clear and you have tracking
tools in place, you’re well on your way to success with SEO
MAKE SEARCH WORK FOR YOU
Optimising web pages correctly means more people can find your content faster.
There are lots of ways to achieve this, so choosing the most effective methods will
save you time and resources. In this topic you'll learn how to master meta tags,
backlinks, international SEO and more.
1. Making your web pages search friendly
Key Learnings
Get started in search engine optimisation by improving the pages on your website.
This video explains the elements that you can tweak to make your website easier
for search engines to understand. We'll cover: * title and description meta tags *
heading elements * page copy.
Transcript
Hello!
In this video we’ll talk about the simple things you can do to optimise the pages of
your website so search engines can find you more easily. Because if they can, so
can potential customers.
On-page optimisation, or changes you can make on your website’s individual
pages, can quickly help search engines better understand your content.
Let’s say you run a small farm called Blake Produce and are looking to optimise a
page about your fruits and vegetables selection.
There are several elements on your page that can tell the search engine that the
page is about fresh fruits and vegetables. These include: meta tags and title,
headings and the page copy itself.
Let’s start with meta tags and title. These aren’t something you would see on a
web page unless you were looking at its code. They’re embedded messages that
help the search engine determine what’s on the page. In particular, there’s the title
and the meta description.
The title and meta description are important because they both are used by the
search engine to generate the actual search result for the specific page. The title is
used to generate the first line shown; the meta description is used to generate the
few short sentences that follow.
For a page about fruits and vegetables, you’ll want to make sure that the phrase
“fruits and vegetables” is in both the title and meta description. A good title would
be: “Blake Produce - Fresh Fruits and Vegetables.” This describes what the page is
about and also highlights your company name.
A good meta description is usually two short sentences. It should also reinforce
the title by using the keyword or phrase again. A good description would be:
“Blake’s Produce delivers organic fresh fruit & veg to your home, as often as you
need it. Order your customisable box online.
A title should be short and sweet; a description should match what the page is
about.
You should also consider what’s on the page itself—what people who visit your
site - not just search engines - actually see. There are two things you can optimise
here to help search engines categorise your content correctly: headings and page
copy.
Like meta tags, headings are embedded in the HTML code of your page, but
they’re also visible to people. Often, they’re displayed at the top of a page. A great
heading would be “fresh fruits and vegetables,” which clearly tells a person what
the page is about but works well for the search engines, too.
Finally, if you’re writing a piece of content about fresh fruits and vegetables, you’ll
naturally want to use that phrase in the copy. Don’t go overboard and repeat the
phrase over and over because search engines may see that as spam. Remember
that you’re writing primarily for people, so be sure your message is clear.
So, let’s recap what you’ve done to optimise the farm’s web pages. You’ve looked
at each of the major elements used by search engines and, in each instance, told
them, “This page is about fresh fruits and vegetables.”
No matter where search engines look, they’ll see consistent and clear information
about what’s on the page. And that might help improve your search engine
rankings.
2. How other websites can work for you
Key Learnings
You can improve your search visibility across the web by thinking about off-site
optimisation; that is, using what happens on other websites to promote yours. This
video will show you some ways to start, including: * encouraging links to your
website * engaging with your audience through good content * promoting your site
with social media.
Transcript
Hey!
In this video we’ll show you how to improve your website’s visibility on search
across the web by encouraging links to your site, engaging with your customers
through good content, and promoting your site with social media.
Your search engine optimisation, or SEO results are influenced by things you do on
your site and things that happen off your site. The latter involves what other sites
are saying about yours.
Two of your best chances to control this are “backlinks” and social media.
Let’s start with backlinks. This is the term for a link from another website to your
site. Think of links like votes—if you have a lot of links to your site, it means many
different people on the web believe your site has good content. It’s a vote of
confidence.
Search engines might see these links as a sign that you have a high-quality site,
and are perhaps a good option to show searchers.
So, we’ve established that links to your site are important—but how do you get
them?
The key is to think quality, not quantity.
In the past, people creating websites focused on getting large numbers of links to
promote their position in search engine results. In some cases, these links were
irrelevant to their products and services, or came from low-quality sites (by low
quality, we mean websites with minimal content that exist only to link to other
sites).
Search engines caught onto this and responded by giving less value to sites that
tried to manipulate the search results, which resulted in a drop in their search
ranking.
What does this mean for you? Links to your site are great, as long as they are
legitimate links from good websites.
So how can you get more of these good links? The best way is to create great
content on your own site. Then, others may link to you because they think their
audience should see your content. You can also encourage others to write about
you, and share links to your website. In the SEO industry, this is called content
marketing.
So what’s good content? If you have a small farm that sells fresh fruit and
vegetables, it could be a list of Top 10 Summer Fruits or the 5 Best Dishes with
Broccoli. To create good content, you have to understand who your potential
customers are, what they are looking for, and how you can provide it.
OK, let’s touch quickly on the other way you can optimise off-site, Social media.
Search engines will crawl any page they can access, including social media sites.
But, they generally don’t place special significance on your popularity within a
social media site. For example, you won’t get more credit for having more “likes” or
“followers.”
But using social media is still a great way to reach a bigger audience. It promotes
your site—and your business—because it helps people discover your content and
encourages them to interact with you.
By the way, if you want to learn more about using social media for your business,
we have an entire lesson about it.
To sum up: off-site optimisation is a valuable way to potentially increase your
search engine rankings.
The best way to support off-site optimisation is by creating good content that
establishes your site as a quality resource, attracting visitors who then share it
across social media.
3. Cross borders with SEO
Key Learnings
Different countries require different marketing tactics, and international search
engine optimisation is no different. In this lesson, you'll learn about changes to
make when your website crosses international borders, including: * language *
localisation * * country targeting.
Transcript
Hey there!
In this lesson, we’ll explain how search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy can
help your business reach international prospects and customers.
If your potential customers are in different countries or speak multiple languages,
there are many aspects to consider. We’ll go over the most important ones:
language, localisation and country targeting.
First things first: you need to speak your customers’ language—literally.
There are some SEO guidelines for websites that offer content in multiple
languages. The first is to make sure that each page in a different language has its
own unique web page.
Why is that important? Let’s say you grow avocados in the U.K. and you want to
sell your prime product to other countries.
Web design technology makes it possible to have English language content on a
web page—say www.example.com/avocado.html—but allow visitors to click a
button to view the same page written in French. Sounds great, right? The problem
is that humans can click that button, but search engines can’t.
A better approach is to separate each translated version on its own web page. In
this example, it would be much better to place the French version on its own page,
with a separate URL: www.example.com/avocat.html
The second thing to keep in mind: mixing languages on the same page. This is a
big no-no. For example, when half your content is in French and the other half is in
English, search engines can’t decide what language your content is in. It’s better to
use different pages for different languages.
Next: Avoid using automated services to translate your content. Have a piece of
content about organic produce that needs to be in French? Get a real live person to
translate it for you.
Why is this necessary? Search engines don't value content generated from
automated translation tools. Even worse, the page might be considered spam.
Translation service may cost you a bit more upfront, but you’ll likely have higher
quality content that can drive better results for your business.
If you’ve taken the time to translate content, some search engines allow you to
add language annotations to your web pages. These annotations help search
engines serve the right content to the right person based on his or her country or
language.
Let’s imagine you are a farmer who ships delicious fruits and vegetables across
borders. You have created some great content for your U.K. clientele, but you have
also had the same content carefully translated into German for your market in
Germany. One such page is about your avocados.
As a farmer, you’d expect your German avocado page to show up on a search
results page for your prospects in Germany, and your U.K. page for customers in
the U.K. To help search engines discover this alternate content, in this case you’d
be able to add an annotation to each English and German page.
These tags will mark your pages so search engines can serve up the right version
of your content to viewers in their respective countries.
When you explore annotations a bit further, you’ll see that they can be great tools
for more advanced multilingual and multinational setups.
That covers some of the structural considerations for adding different languages
to your website. But even if you don’t add multiple languages, there are other
considerations for customers in different countries and markets.
Start by thinking about what information would be useful to them.
Do you need to provide product prices in different currencies?
Do they use a different system of measurement—metric versus imperial? For
example, would customers weigh your avocados in kilos or pounds?
Did you include local addresses and phone numbers so they can contact you?
Do you need to list your business hours in different time zones?
These are all small things you can do to make sure your website remains useful to
potential customers in different countries. They are also signals to help search
engines understand your content is relevant to international markets.
Beyond language and localisation, you can help search engines understand the
country (or countries!) you are targeting.
For instance, if your website has a country code top level domain name—ccTLD for
short—it’s a strong indication that your site targets a specific country. An example
of a U.K. site with a ccTLD would be www.avocadofarm.co.uk. For Germany, that
site might be www.avocadofarm.de.
And if it doesn’t? What if you have a generic domain such as www.example.com?
Search engines may use a number of factors including where your website is
hosted, its IP address, and information on your web pages. You can still help your
site and its content be more visible to international prospects by using country
targeting tools such as those found in Google Search Console.
And there you have it. As you start promoting your website in other countries, keep
three things in mind: language, localisation and country targeting.
If you do, you can adjust your website and SEO strategy to make your website an
international success. Want to learn more? Be sure to check out our lessons about
International Marketing and Export.
BE NOTICED WITH SEARCH ADS
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) can open up a world of opportunities when it
comes to promoting your service or product. By specifically targeting people
interested in your website, you can use online advertising to directly connect with
future customers. Learn how an SEM auction works and which elements are
important to master so you can create ads that stand out from the crowd.
1. Introduction to search engine marketing (SEM)
Key Learnings
Traditional advertising broadcasts a message to the world at large. But search
engine marketing targets a very specific group of people – those actively looking
for your products and services. In this video, you'll learn: * what SEM is * how it
works * why it works so well.
Transcript
Hey there! And welcome to our introduction to search engine marketing, or SEM. In
this video we’re going to be talking about how SEM works, and more importantly,
what makes it unique in marketing, and why it’s so effective.
You’re probably already familiar with search engine marketing, even if you don’t
know how it works. Let’s say you do a search for something like wedding photos.
You’ll get lots of options on the search engine results page. Now we’re going to
take a closer look at those results.
The links you see in the main part of the page are called “organic” results. It costs
nothing to appear here. This is where search engines show sites they think have
the most relevant content.
Now look at the right column and across the top of the page. See those results?
These listings are paid advertisements.
SEM lets you use this space to advertise to potential customers when they search
for certain words and phrases relevant to your business. These are known as
keywords.
Another really unique thing to know about SEM is the advertiser only pays when
someone clicks on their ad. So if your ad appears, but no one clicks on it, you
won’t be charged.
Yes, you heard that right! That’s why it’s called “pay-per-click” advertising.
Let's say you’re a wedding photographer. You may want your ads to show when
someone searches for wedding photographer Cardiff. But you’ll only pay if the
searcher clicks on your advert.
That’s the big difference when comparing SEM to traditional forms of advertising,
like ads in newspapers and magazines, or billboard posters. If you advertise
wedding photography using those, the ad is shown to a bunch of people… whether
or not they want wedding photos. And you pay no matter what.
With SEM, it’s very likely that people who clicked your ad are interested in what you
have to offer, because they told you so. Or rather, they told the search engine when
they searched for wedding photographer Cardiff, saw your ad and clicked on it.
Unlike traditional marketing, SEM targets people actively looking for products and
services. This is different from broadcasting a message to people that they
may—or may not—have any interest in.
Makes sense, right? Now you know why SEM works so well.
Let’s sum up. Search engine marketing is a uniquely powerful option for your
business. It’s simple, but effective: People search for things they want. And
advertisers target specific searches, but only pay if someone clicks to learn more.
That’s search engine marketing.
If you stay tuned we’ll cover lots more about SEM. We’ll explain how it works, how
to identify effective keywords, how to write ads people will click on, and much
more.
2. The SEM auction
Key Learnings
When advertisers compete to show ads on the same search results page, search
engines use an auction to determine which ads appear and in what order. But
there’s more to consider than just the price. In this video, we’ll talk through: * how
an SEM auction works * factors that influence the outcome * a detailed example.
Transcript
Hey! By now, you probably know that search engine marketing is a great way to
advertise to people at just the right moment - when they’re looking for your
products or services. But do you know how it actually works?
Search engine marketing is based on an auction system. So in this video, we’ll
discuss how the auction works, and look at an example to help you figure out how
to use SEM in the best way for your business.
Let’s start with a search for a common service—say, wedding photography. Take a
look at the results page.
In the centre you’ll see organic listings - listings that weren’t paid for. And at the
top and down the right column you’ll see the paid ads.
Search engines limit the number of slots adverts can appear in on an individual
page. Advertisers then compete in an auction for those slots.
So, after you search for wedding photography, you see the outcome of the auction.
The adverts that “win” appear in more desirable slots on the results page - usually
that means near the top. The “runners-up” appear in lower slots.
Alright, you’re probably wondering: how does the auction work? Well, like most
auctions, you place a bid, which influences your performance in the auction. But
it’s not all about your bid. In this auction, the relevance of your adverts is crucial as
well. So, success in the auction means having a competitive bid, as well as strong
relevance. Getting both of these right is the recipe for success in SEM.
Let’s look at both of these factors, starting with the bids in the auction. Say you’re
willing to pay up to £2 when people click on your ad after searching for wedding
photography. This price is often called your maximum cost per click, or Max CPC.
If your competitor’s only got a Max CPC of, let’s say, £1, you’ll have a higher bid,
meaning you’ll be “ahead” in the auction. Keep in mind: businesses can change
their Max CPCs at any time, so you’ll need to keep an eye on your bids regularly to
ensure you’re getting the performance you want.
But as I said earlier, there’s more to the auction than just the bids.
The other big factor is relevance. This is a measure—normally rated from 1 to
10—of how closely your ad relates to what a person searched for. Search engines
such as Google and Bing refer to this as your Quality Score.
For example, if someone searches for wedding photography, and your ad’s
headline is Wedding Photography in Cardiff, the search engine probably considers
your ad highly relevant. That means you’d likely get a high Quality Score.
But what if your advert’s headline is Wedding Services Cardiff? Both adverts refer
to weddings, but this one is less relevant, because it’s talking about wedding
services instead of wedding photography. In this case, your relevance wouldn’t be
as good, so you’d probably have a lower Quality Score.
Think of it this way. When two competing businesses have equal bid prices, the
business with a higher Quality Score will appear higher on the search results page.
One of the best ways you can improve your performance in SEM is to consistently
review your campaigns to find ways to become more relevant.
With us so far? The price you’re willing to pay for a click — the max CPC — and
your Quality Score are the main things that determine your performance the
auction.
Now, let’s push our example scenario one step further.
Say two different businesses compete on the same keyword: wedding
photography.
Richard bids £4, but his advert is deemed not very relevant, a 3 out of 10. Claire
bids £3, and her relevance is a full 10. If we look closely, we can take all this info
and figure out what will happen in the auction.
Multiplied out, Richard’s auction score - called ad rank - is 12. Claire scores an
impressive 30, even with a lower Max CPC.
So what does that mean? Although her bid was a pound less than Richard’s,
Claire’s advert wins the auction, and she gets a higher position on the page than
Richard.
And that pretty much covers SEM Auctions. As you can see, you can’t simply “buy
your way to the top.” This is to ensure the most relevant adverts win the auction,
not simply the ones with the highest bids. If your ads lack relevance and get a low
Quality Score, it’ll be difficult to compete. In fact, if relevance is too low, the search
engines may not display your ads at all.
To improve your performance, stay focused on improving the relevance of all your
adverts. Make sure that your adverts always closely match the terms that people
have just searched for. By doing this, you can win better positions for your ads,
without having to pay more money.
3. What makes a good keyword
Key Learnings
When you’re starting a new search engine marketing (SEM) campaign, it’s
important to understand what makes a keyword “good”. In this video, you’ll learn
which factors to consider before bidding on keywords, including: * relevance *
traffic * competition.
Transcript
Hey! Today we’re here to talk about search engine marketing. This video will
explain what exactly makes a keyword “good.”
We’re also going to touch on three important factors to consider when choosing
keywords. These are relevance, traffic and competition.
In search engine marketing (SEM), you pay every time someone clicks on your ad.
So naturally you want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
Let’s go back to our wedding photographer in Cardiff, and we’re going to imagine
you’re the business owner. You’ve just updated your website, and now you want to
attract new visitors.
You find that on average, the keyword wedding photographer Cardiff costs you
about £2 per click. By the way, a “keyword” doesn’t have to be just one word - it
can be a phrase as well.
Now, without knowing more about what these clicks are worth to your business,
you can’t really know whether this is a good keyword or not.
For example, if you discover that the average value of these clicks to your
business is £40, it’s safe to say that this is a good keyword. On the other hand, if
the average value is £1, then you might want to make some adjustments.
Measuring the value of your ad clicks will help you know if keywords are “good” or
not. But before you start a campaign, you won’t be able to measure the value your
keywords are generating. So how can you research keywords before adding them
to your campaign? Well, you have a few different options here.
The first thing to ask yourself is: is this keyword relevant? Or in other words, does
this keyword closely describe your products or services?
Keywords that indicate a person looking to hire a wedding photographer in Cardiff
are clearly relevant. However, keywords that suggest a person looking to do their
own wedding photography, or that suggest digital photography when you only
shoot in film, are far less relevant.
Try to focus solely on keywords that are relevant to your business, and you’ll have
more success going forward.
Another factor to consider is how much traffic a given keyword is likely to get.
In other words, you might compile a list of highly relevant keywords... but what if
nobody searches for them?
In this case, we have to go back to the drawing board.
Take, for example, the keyword:
Cardiff photographer specialising in photography for outdoor weddings
This might describe your business exactly... but with so much specific detail it’s
unlikely that many people will search for it. Bidding on this keyword probably won’t
result in many people finding your business.
On the other hand, the shorter keyword:
Cardiff wedding photography
is still relevant to your business, and may result in more exposure.
Keyword research tools can provide traffic estimates to help you get a handle on
this. But in reality, you’ll probably have to use a bit of trial and error to figure out
which keywords are relevant and get sufficient traffic.
Now you know how important relevance and traffic are to finding good keywords,
let’s move on to one more important factor to consider when determining if your
keywords are good.
Quite simply, you’re going to want to consider what your competition are up to.
Think about it: if a keyword is relevant, and gets quite a bit of traffic, your
competitors are more likely to be using it too.
For instance, when it comes to the keyword Cardiff wedding photography, there’s a
good chance that every photographer in Cardiff is bidding on that keyword.
That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t include it. But you should look for keywords
where the relevance and traffic is high, and competition relatively low.
Perhaps a keyword like Cardiff film wedding photography would be less
competitive, because it’s more unique to your business.
So, when you’re thinking about which keywords you want to include in your ad
campaigns you’re going to want to remember relevance, traffic potential and
competition.
It’s a bit of a balancing act, but weighing these three factors can set your ad
campaign off to the right start. Be sure to monitor your keywords closely - if you
do, you’ll quickly learn about what’s working, and then you can make adjustments
as you move forward.
4. Make your ads stand out
Key Learnings
Take a look at any search engine results page. It’s full of text! How do you make
your business’s adverts jump out in this jumble of words? In this video, you’ll learn
how to: * attract more traffic with adverts that catch the searcher’s eye * write
headlines that make a connection * write a clear, compelling call to action.
Transcript
Hey! Have you ever noticed when you search for something online, most of the
adverts that you see in the search results look similar? In this video, we’ll help your
business stand out by showing you how how to write eye-catching ads, compelling
headlines and clear calls to action.
Let’s start by doing a search for 'hire wedding photographer' and having a look
through the ads that appear.
The first thing you might notice is: there are a lot of wedding photographers online,
and the ads all seem to get a bit lost in the fray. That’s because they aren’t
particularly relevant to our search, and don’t seem to be offering anything unique.
There are also lots of organic search engine results—the results in the centre of
the page— competing for your attention.
You can imagine how easy it is for your ad to get lost here, which is why it’s really
important to create something unique that stands out from the competition.
So how can you take your ad to the next level, and make it “jump off the page?”
There are a few simple guidelines you can follow to turn a plain advert into
something attention grabbing.
Let’s start with relevance. Relevance is the name of the game in search engine
marketing. Try and write your advert’s headline to match the searcher’s words as
closely as possible.
Remember our example search for hire wedding photographer?
If you want to be sure to show up in search results for that search, just use it for
the ad’s headline:
Hire Wedding Photographer
Now, when someone searches for this keyword, your advert will perfectly match
what they’re searching for.
So what other ways can you make your advert stand out from the crowd? How
about some kind of unique, timely offer or promotion?
If you’re running a sale, or have a special benefit the customer can take advantage
of, that’s a really easy way to attract attention. Let’s take your first description line,
which said Photos for All Weddings, and update it with a special offer.
How about this: Get 25% Off Your Photo Collage.
This already looks a lot more exciting, and gives the customer a clear reason to
visit your website. Similarly, you could try something like: Free Shipping on
Purchases over £25.
The last thing you want is a strong, clear “call to action” in your advert. In other
words, tell visitors what you want them to do when they get to your site. You could
say “Browse Our Portfolio!” or “Buy!” or “Make a Reservation!” Research shows
that people respond when you direct them to do something specific.
It’s a good idea to include this as the second line of your advert, so the searcher
knows exactly what to do after they click on your ad.
Let’s say your advert’s call to action is Book online today. That’s alright, but it’s not
very exciting. Let’s try something a bit more compelling. How about:
View our Wedding Photo Gallery!
This is much better. It tells the customer what they should do when they visit your
website. And it also reinforces the fact that your business is highly relevant to the
customer’s need, because you’ve got a wide selection of wedding photography.
Right, now let’s go back to our original advert to compare the before and after.
Looks better doesn’t it? The advert’s new headline is far more relevant to the
search. We have an exciting special offer, and a clear call to action. This new
advert is much more likely to attract customers to your website.
So what have we learned? Using a few simple guidelines can help your adverts
stand out from the competition. First, you want to customise your advert headline
to the search. Then include a special or timely offer. And finally, give a compelling
call to action.
These techniques can help improve your ads across the board. Just remember
that writing great adverts is an ongoing process - just like researching keywords or
monitoring your bid prices. Focus on these tips over the long run, and you’re likely
to see success.
IMPROVE YOUR SEARCH CAMPAIGNS
The world of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is full of opportunities, but to benefit
you’ll first need to master research tools and keyword selection. From there, you
can improve and optimise your search campaigns to ensure you get maximum
value for what you spend.
1. Achieve relevance with good structure
Key Learnings
To succeed as an advertiser, you need to create adverts that help searchers find
what they’re looking for – and when you do, search engines may reward you. In
this video, you’ll learn: * how SEM campaigns are structured * how to use that
structure to achieve relevance * the benefits you’ll get by focusing on relevance.
Transcript
Hi there. In this video, you’ll learn why relevance is so important for SEM
campaigns. We’re also going to look at the structure of SEM campaigns, and show
you how to build your campaigns in a way that helps you achieve that relevance.
Ready to be one step closer to SEM success? Alright, let’s get started.
‘Relevance’ sounds like a tricksy sort of word, but it’s easy to understand if you
think about it as someone who uses search engines. For example, let’s do a
search for 'wedding photographer', and take a look at some of the adverts that
appear.
Here we have three.
The first headline says Wedding Photographer, followed by information about
pricing and selection. This ad is extremely relevant, because the headline matches
our search, plus it has plenty of useful information.
The second headline says Candid Wedding Photoshoot. It includes some
information about the types of wedding photo packages this business offers. This
ad is fairly relevant, but less than the first because the headline doesn’t precisely
reflect the search. As a whole, search engines might consider this advert less
relevant.
The third headline says Wedding Photograph, but appears to be an ad for a site
that sells posters. That’s not relevant to what we were searching for.
When it comes to relevance, search engines also consider the first web page
people see after they click on an ad. This is called the landing page. So what does
this mean for you? Well, just as your advert should be relevant to the words a
person just searched for, your landing page should be relevant to the advert a
person clicks on.
Makes sense, right? Great, let’s move on.
Relevance is important to search engines - After all, it’s their job to find relevant
results for searches, and this includes finding relevant adverts. Relevance is also
really important to businesses who advertise on search engines.
For starters, search engines reward relevant adverts with higher positions on the
search results page.
What’s more, if your adverts are more relevant than your competitors’, you might
be able to get the same amount of traffic for a lower price.
So it makes a lot of sense to pay attention to relevance.
Now let’s look at ways you can structure your SEM campaigns to achieve greater
relevance.
Think of your SEM plan as an upside-down tree. At the top is your account, which
you create with Google Ads, Bing Ads, or another search engine.
Within the account are campaigns. Each campaign controls important decisions,
like the daily budget, the areas or countries where ads can appear, and the
advertising networks you want to use.
Within each campaign, you can create multiple ad groups. These are collections of
keywords and the ads that go with them.
Structuring your account in this organised way helps ensure you show the most
relevant ads.
Let’s go through another example with the photographer to bring this to life.
Imagine you’re the photographer, and you specialise in various types of
photography. Let’s say weddings, baby photos and family portraits. Each of these
specialities contain different products, so you decide to split them into separate
campaigns.
Within each campaign, your next move is to create ad groups for each type of
product. For example, within your wedding photographer campaign, you might
create ad groups for engagement photos, bridal portraits, candid wedding photos,
and more.
Within your baby photos ad group, you add keywords that someone would search
for. For example, keywords like baby photography or newborn photos. Now you
can write an ad that corresponds to the keywords, like:
Baby Photography
We Take Beautiful Newborn Photos
Affordable Rates, Book Now!
If someone searched for your keyword baby photography, this would be a relevant
ad!
To sum up: No matter what type of business you have, your SEM campaigns
should have a solid, well-thought-out structure.
By dividing your products or services into separate campaigns and ad groups, you
can show ads that help customers find exactly what they’re searching for— which
is win-win for everyone.
2. Get the most from your keywords
Key Learnings
Search engines, like Google and Bing, offer tools that take the guesswork out of
choosing the right keywords, and can help potential customers find you online.
We'll talk about: * research tools * related searches * negative keywords.
Transcript
Hello! By now you should have a pretty good idea of how people use lots of
keywords to search for your products or services. Now let’s talk about making your
keywords as effective as possible.
In this video, we’ll be looking at research tools, like the ones provided by search
engines like Google and Bing. We’ll see how using these tools can take some of
the guesswork out of choosing keywords, and help more potential customers find
you online.
Let’s put this into practice. Imagine you already have one SEM campaign
promoting your wedding photography business. The clients are coming in, but now
let’s say you want to build a new campaign advertising your pet portraits.
A tool like Google’s Keyword Planner or Bing’s Keyword Research Tool can help
you find out which keywords are most relevant and will work best for your new
campaign.
For example, if you type in “pet portraits,” the tool will show you other related
searches.
Let’s look at which of these keywords might also be a good fit for your new
campaign.
We can see that people search for terms like [pictures of dogs], [animal artists],
and [dog portraits].
The results also show how many searches each term tends to get. And other
useful information, like suggested “bid prices” and “competition levels.”
Knowing this, you can create several groups, called ad groups. One for terms
related to pet portraits, one for [pictures of dogs], one for [dog portraits] and one
for [animal artists].
By organising these terms into ad groups, you can write relevant ads for each
group of keywords.
That takes care of the relevant keywords, but what about the ones that didn’t seem
so relevant?
For example, we can see lots of people are also searching for [pet portraits pencil],
which suggests they’re looking for something else.
There are also many who are searching for watercolour pet portraits, and horse
portraits, neither of which you offer.
In situations like these, you should use “negative keywords” to prevent your ads
from appearing when people search for things that aren’t relevant to your
business. For example, [-pencil], [-pastel] and [-horse].
These negative keywords will block your ads any time a search contains one or all
of them.
This is useful, because preventing adverts from appearing for irrelevant searches,
is going to save you money, and make sure that only your ideal customer sees
your ads.
So, to recap, keyword research tools can help you find keywords that attract
customers… but they also help you discover keywords to avoid. It’s also a good
idea to try and revisit these tools regularly. People’s search behavior tends to
change over time, and if you let your campaigns sit untouched for too long, their
performance could start to dip.
3. Fine-tune with keyword match types
Key Learnings
Search engine marketing (SEM) is great for letting you choose specific searches to
trigger your ads. But search engines often show your ads for keywords that are
slightly different from the ones you’re targeting. The solution: keyword match
types. This video explains: * what match types are and why they’re useful * the
different kinds of match types * how to control which searches may trigger ads.
Transcript
Hi! Want to make your search engine marketing efforts even more successful? Of
course you do!
In this video, we’ll be exploring a feature called keyword match types. And learning
about how using different match types can increase your control over which
searches trigger your ads.
Did you know that search engines might also show your ads when people search
for other terms—terms you didn’t specifically choose?
That’s because search engines can show your ads when people search for
variations of your keywords. This is called broad matching.
Most of the time, broad match is useful. It means that you don’t have to add every
variation of the keyword you’d like to target, like singulars, plurals and
misspellings.
But this flexibility also means that sometimes, search engines show your ads for
keywords that aren’t relevant to your business. Using keyword match types can
help.
Let’s say you’re a portrait photographer. As you brainstorm keywords for your ad
campaign, you might consider "London photographer".
If you include this keyword, a search for “London photographer” could trigger one
of your ads even though the person making the search might not be looking for
exactly what you’re offering.
What if they’re actually looking to buy prints of photographs of the city of London?
Or someone to photograph an event in London? Or do a commercial magazine
shoot? Any of these searches could potentially trigger your ad, but the searchers
are not likely customers.
One way to prevent ads from appearing on these searches is to choose more
specific keywords, since your target customer is probably searching for things like
“London portrait photographer” or “London family portraits.”
On top of that, you can add match type to further refine the results. How do you do
that? Let’s take a look.
Keywords are broad match by default. Aside from broad match, the other primary
match types are phrase match and exact match. To change broad match to
phrase, simply place quotations around the keyword. So, the keyword London
portrait photographer becomes “London portrait photographer.”
Phrase match tells Google Ads or Bing Ads that adverts can’t be displayed unless
the search includes the entire phrase. So if someone searches for “London portrait
photographer” that’s great-your ads can show up! Minor variations, like plurals, are
included. This means that a search for “London portrait photographers” can also
trigger your ad.
But, if someone searches for the more generic London photographer, your ad
won’t show up, because the word portrait is missing.
With phrase match, the searcher can include words before and after the phrase, so
“East London portrait photographer” could also trigger an ad.
To get even more specific, exact match keywords are distinguished by enclosing
the word or phrase in square brackets. So, the keyword London portrait
photographer becomes [London portrait photographer].
Now, if someone searches for portrait photographer, your ad can’t appear because
it doesn’t match the keyword exactly. Along the same lines, a search for London
photographer also won’t trigger your ad.
Unlike phrase match, the ad can’t display if the searcher includes additional words.
But minor variations, like plurals, can still trigger the ad.
As you change keywords from broad match, to phrase, to exact, it restricts the
opportunities for ads to display. Your best bet is to try to find a match type
balance, allowing ads to show to likely prospects, but blocking ads when you think
success is unlikely.
As you add restrictive match types for keywords, you’ll probably notice that your
traffic quantity goes down... but traffic quality should improve. And that’s what
matters here.
4. How to know what’s working and what isn’t
Key Learnings
One of the best ways to measure how well your search engine marketing is
working is by tracking conversions, or actions you’d like website visitors to take. In
this video, we’ll cover: * what conversions are * how to choose the ones you want
to measure * what tools you can use to track them.
Transcript
Hi there! So you’ve got some online advertising campaigns up and running and you
want to find out how they’re doing?
In this video, we’ll explain how to do just that by tracking conversions. We’ll cover
what they are, how to choose the ones you want to measure and what technology
to use to track them.
One of the best things about SEM is that you can measure the value you’re getting
from your campaigns. To do this, you track conversions - the key actions you want
website visitors to take—using tools that search engines like Google or Bing
provide. We’ll get to those in just a minute.
Let’s start with how you choose which conversions to track.
Say you’re a nature photographer who sells prints online. What kinds of actions
might count as “conversions” on your website?
Obviously, placing an order is an important one. But what else might you want
people to do?
Well, your website should have a Contact form so potential customers can ask you
questions like what other prints you have for sale, or if you’re available to
photograph special events. When someone submits an inquiry through this form,
that’s a conversion, too.
What if you don’t sell prints online? Instead, you’re a wedding photographer and
the bulk of your site is a portfolio of your work. You might have references in
downloadable PDF form, so when people download it you can track that as a
conversion.
You could also have a link people can click to receive your rates via email. That’s
another way potential customers can become paying customers, so you should
track that as a conversion as well.
In these two examples, we’ve mentioned a handful of different conversions:
successful transactions, contact form submissions, and downloads. And there are
plenty of other possibilities. Can you think of what conversions you’d want to track
for your own business?
So how can you actually track these conversions? Well, you can use tools provided
by search engines. These allow you, or whoever is managing your website for you,
to place a small piece of code on certain pages of your website. That sounds
complicated, especially if you don’t have any technical support, but don’t worry,
we’ll walk you through it.
Let’s go back to the nature photography business. You want to track a completed
order, so you need to figure out the proper place for the conversion tracking code.
You wouldn’t want to put the code on your homepage—if you do that, you’ll be
counting conversions every time someone visits your site.
Instead, you would install the conversion tracking code on the order confirmation
page. That’s the page customers see after they complete an order. That way, you
know a conversion happened.
Next, you decide to track online inquiries. Just like the previous example, you need
to install the conversion tracking code on a page the visitor sees only after they
submit an inquiry. For example, on the page that thanks the customer after they’ve
placed an order.
Make sense? In order to properly track conversions, you need to attach the code to
pages someone will only see after they’ve taken the action you want.
Once you install the code, you’ll start getting reports that tell you how many
conversions you got. That’s valuable information in figuring out if your online ad
campaigns are working.
To sum up: By using online tools from search engines like Bing or Google, you can
measure online conversions and set yourself up for success.
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