Local individual Dentist Archives - Page 8 of 8

SEO is not marketing. Marketing in its simplest form is 'The management process responsible for identifying , anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably'. In fact there are plenty of definitions of marketing and a lot of them completely miss the point, but the best ones relate to the provision of ‘individual customer oriented benefits’. Devising keywords used by a majority audience and creating links from other websites to advocate the benefits of your own site doesn’t really fit in with this definition. As a recent marketing graduate and a newcomer to the world of SEO, I was curious to investigate whether the marketing principles I’d heard so much about at university were applicable to the practise of Search Engine Optimisation for E-commerce, and whether any of those principles could be used to make improvements. So before that can happen, we need a quick lesson in marketing. In 1985, a group of academics (Parasuraman, Zeithyml & Berry) developed a model called SERVQUAL for testing the quality of a service and the model is still used today by large corporations as (arguably) an accurate method for determining the quality of a service. The model measures an individual’s expectation of a particular service before the experience against their perception of the service after experiencing it, resulting in measurable, quantitative data. The scholars proved that when an individual interprets the quality of a service, they make judgements based on 5 generic characteristics… Responsiveness Assurance Tangible evidence Empathy Reliability Now, Google have made common knowledge of the fact that the Panda algorithm was created to substitute human perceptions upon interaction with websites and now encourage sites to be optimised purely for USERS and not for Google! So if the future of the internet is based on a better experience for users, doesn’t it make sense, from an SEO perspective, to explore how users will judge a website? How about we look at the updates Google has made so far and see if they fit with any of the aforementioned characteristics. Broken internal links The entire process of a service, which begins with the very first click from SERP to landing page, must occur without incident. If a prospective customer arrives on your site and upon seeing a desired product, clicks it for more information, but nothing happens, why would they trust you with their personal/card details if you can’t even get your site to RESPOND appropriately? Google now expects you to avoid web spammers and other web based sources that discredit the quality of your website. A key marketing principle is to understand exactly who your market segment is and remain within that segment, both in terms of those you’re selling to and those you associate with publicly. So essentially, Google is ensuring your ASSURANCE as a prospective consumer and that the information you are requesting/reading is correct. For example, if you own a bricks and mortar shop which sells diamond jewellery at a premium price to an elite market, you’re not going to hang advertising posters in an East London fish and chip shop. Customers wouldn’t expect it in reality and don’t expect it online either. Overuse of keywords Don’t you just hate it when you go into a shop to look around and you feel bombarded by the attention of the nosey assistant who just won’t leave you alone, telling you about all the best-selling/highest yielding products again and again and again and again until your mind just gives up and you stare into oblivion? Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating just a tad here but essentially, this is what Google thinks you’re doing when you cram the same set of keywords into your page content twenty times each. Instead of providing valuable information to your prospective consumer, you’re telling them the same thing over and over. EMPATHISE with the situation of your prospective consumer and treat them on-site in the same way you would in a shop. Interesting, quality content, updated regularly Easy on the eye and devoid of auto generated content Overlapping/redundant articles High advertisement ratio The RELIABILITY and TANGIBLE EVIDENCE of a website can make the difference between a prospective consumer who trusts your site enough to supply personal information/card details or not. By continually providing content which the user finds interesting, relevant and aesthetically pleasing, you communicate the fact that you have the consumer’s best interests at heart. Again, by considering these issues in reality, it’s easy to understand how prospective consumers might be put off. For example, the majority of customers arguably want a retail bricks & mortar shop to have relatively new décor and catalogues, both of which must be relevant to the products/services being sold. Similarly, customers don’t want the sales staff/ catalogue to inform them of the same irrelevant information over and again. Finally, I should think most consumers, upon entering a shop for the first time, would be baffled by the sight of a hundred advertisements stuck to the walls which had absolutely nothing to do with the shops own products. That would just be weird, right? And yet for purely financial gain, websites ignore customer experience and plaster irrelevant advertisements on site. Summary Look upon your website with the same vision as you would a tangible store, know your market segment and provide them with a homogeneous service. The internet doesn’t need mediocre websites because you, the consumer, do not need mediocre websites. Make your site the best customer experience it can possibly be and this is all the SEO you’ll ever need.

Tag: Local individual Dentist

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