Search Engine Optimisation Manchester, SEO Consultants Lancashire, Bolton, UK
What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Internet Marketing?
Daunting, complex and overwhelming. But don't worry!
You've arrived at our Search Engine Optimisation page. As a subject, especially to those of us that don't feel as computer savvy as the rest, it can at first, appear a little daunting, complex and overwhelming to say the least. But don't worry! At Vizcom Search Engine Optimisation is, in true Julie Andrews style, One Of Our Favourite Things. Whether you already have a website of your own or have not tackled that specific area yet, read on to discover all you need to know about Search Engine Optimisation.
In an ideal world, all companies would have a website. It doesn't have to be a sprawling mass of pages or an online catalogue of your products and services to start off with, but you do need to have an online presence of sorts. A simple page or two listing your contact details and a little bit information about your business is an ideal way to begin. 70% of businesses (potential customers) look for new suppliers (potentially you and your company) by searching the internet in the first instance.
The online world is becoming increasingly more accessible and travels across more platforms than just home computers as it was a few years ago; technology has developed to the point where we can access the web via mobile phones, games consoles, wireless devices and the like more or less anywhere - in the street, airports, coffee shops, schools, colleges, universities, workplaces - the list is indeed endless. So with access to the internet growing, you can't really ignore it's importance when it comes to marketing your business to potential customers.
35% of all traffic to websites is generated by search engines
Research has shown that 35% of all traffic to websites is generated by search engines, with 82% of UK traffic arriving courtesy of Google. There's more than 25 billion searches worldwide carried out on search engines every month, and with technology developing at it's current rate, those figures will only increase. Therefore, the companies that invest early on in an online presence and some form of Search Engine Optimisation only stand to gain from this increase, standing a better chance of prospering and developing their businesses further. With all of the above in mind then, it's then important that your website appears highly within the results of the most popular search engines - in fact, the higher up on the first page, the better, and this where Search Engine Optimisation comes into it's own.
Search Engine Optimisation (or if you're across the pond- 'optimization'), SEO, Internet Marketing and Search Engine Marketing are all very similar - a combination of lots of different techniques and procedures designed to help your website become more 'noticable' on the internet. If you already have a website of your own, you may be wondering 'why has my designer not optimised it for me already?' or 'why am I not getting a lot of traffic?' The answer to this is simple.
SEO and website building are two different fields - like a valet at a garage is employed to buff your car and ensure that it looks good, it won't necessarily work better for it. You'd then have to take it to a mechanic, who will tinker with the engine and leave your vehicle operating to it's best potential again. So, a website designer is like a valet, and a mechanic is like an SEO service.
You may have had the most beautiful website in the world constructed for your company, with a host of flash animations and professional photographs, but without it being optimised, the chances are hardly anyone, apart from your family and friends, will see it to begin with. A well optimised website should fulfil several criteria - it should be easy to use and navigate for your visitors, visible to search engines such as Google and Yahoo, and easily found by potential customers who are either looking for to buy your products and services or find more information related to them.
Why choose Vizcom Design for your search engine optimisation?
Our goal with your website is to get it high in search engine rankings of all of the main search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask. We do this through experience gained through knowledge and skills and through focused and consistent effort.
We are also very keen on looking at the actual website content - good descriptive text, as well as simple layout and navigation go a long way toward optimising your site. Good text encourages people to not just stay on your site, but for other sites to link to it too. If you're struggling with writing text for your site, it may help you to visit our Copywriting page for further details.
All of the techniques we employ, we've used on our own website beforehand, and ensure that we test drive any new procedures and techniques before we try them on other websites. We've used this method for many years, ensuring that we stay ahead of internet trends and developing SEO procedures as and when they occur.
Also at Vizcom, we don't just optimise your home page, we go through the entire site with a fine toothed comb, identifying as many factors as we can within your site that can be optimised and thus encourage fresh traffic. Along with the development of the internet, is the rise of companies offering the SEO service. Some, we must warn you, practise immoral techniques known in the trade as 'Black Hat SEO'. This involves a number of 'questionable methods' which may deliver the fresh traffic that was promised, however, the chances are it will only be a temporary thing as Black Hat SEO is now recognised by many of the search engines and they can 'penalise' your site by not listing it as highly as perhaps it should be or removing it from the rankings completely
Ethical Search Engine Optimisation
The techniques employed at Vizcom are all 'White Hat'- the direct opposite and will not only ethically generate more traffic, but it will be traffic targeted to your business, products and services - we specialise in attracting you potential customers, not just internet surfers. We can provide you with 'before-and-after' examples of websites that we have already worked on, and encourage you to contact our existing customers to get first hand views on how our SEO services have improved their businesses.
If you already have a website, we can provide you with a report that details how many people are visiting your website, how long they're staying for, what specific pages they view during their stay, which search engine they used to find you, and what search terms they entered for you to appear in their list of results. To learn more about what we can do for you and your website, especially if you have any specific concerns, please visit our SEO FAQs page.
Our SEO Packages provide you with a guide of what we can offer depending on the type of website you have, but if you have further questions or can't see what you're looking for, please contact us, and we'll be happy to talk you through things.
Do it yourself
At Vizcom, we also try and encourage small business owners to take an interest in SEO, as there's lots of techniques that you can do yourself to optimise your website. Every month, we publish ten SEO tips and add them to our 101 Marketing Tips page. A lot of these hints are simple, free procedures which can be completed without the aid of an expert or a safety net, and all have been tried and tested by us, so we know they work.
Below, you'll find a list of our completed projects - websites that's we've already worked on for a number of our customers. Feel free to have a look at their sites and compare the results that they achieved with our SEO services.
Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing Examples
Search results data correct as of 14.10.09
www.copyprintservices.co.uk
Google Page 1. 1st and 2nd “Colour photocopier repairs”
Google Page 1. 2nd “Canon dealers manchester”
Google Page 1. 3rd “Lease or buy photocopier"
Google Page 1. 7th and 8th “Olivetti copier lease”
Google Page 1. 5th “Digital printer lease"
Google Page 1. 6th “Buy photocopier"
Listed in Dmoz
Number of monthly unique visitors before SEO 174. Current unique visitors 1861.
(Website not built by Vizcom)
http://www.hilmar.co.uk/
Google Page 1. 4th “Mild steel tube”
Google Page 1. 7th “mild steel suppliers”
Google Page 1. 5th “Mild steel tube stockholders”
Google Page 1. 1st and 2nd “Steel tube suppliers”
Google Page 1. 3rd “Seamless mild steel tube”
Listed in Dmoz
Number of monthly unique visitors before SEO 112. Current unique visitors 625.
(Website built by Vizcom)
http://www.thevanliners.co.uk/
Google Page 1. 1st “Ply lining vans”
Google Page 1. 1st and 2nd “Van lining”
Google Page 1. 1st and 2nd “Van lining kits”
Google Page 1. 1st “Van ply lining”
Google Page 1. 2nd and 3rd “Ply lining for vans”
Google Page 1. 3rd “Ply lining”
Listed in Dmoz
Number of monthly unique visitors before SEO 366. Current unique visitors 2985.
(Website built by Vizcom)
http://www.weathertightuk.com/
Google Page 1. 4th “Roofing felt suppliers uk”
Google Page 1. 5th “Roof underlay”
Google Page 1. 1st “Waterproof felt supplier”
Google Page 1. 1st and 2nd “Roof felt lancashire”
Google Page 1. 4th “Underlay for roofs”
Google Page 1. 1st “Waterproof roofing”
Number of monthly unique visitors before SEO 36. Current unique visitors 1187.
(Website not built by Vizcom)
www.epple.co.uk
Google Page 1. 1st “Engineering Machinery”
Google Page 1. 1st and 2nd “Low cost pillar drills”
Google Page 1. 1st “Small milling machines”
Google Page 1. 2nd “Selling new machine tools”
Google Page 1. 1st “Engineering machinery accessories”
Google Page 1. 1st and 2nd “Belt linisher”
Google Page 1. 5th “Centre lathe”
Number of monthly unique visitors before SEO 285. Current unique visitors 2430
(Website built by Vizcom)
http://www.motorsanddrives.co.uk/
Google Page 1. 4th “Amtecs motors”
Google Page 1. 2nd “Industrial electrical inverters”
Google Page 1. 1st “Camak motors”
Google Page 1. 2nd “Dutymax ds”
Google Page 1. 2nd “Buy motor inverters online”
Google Page 1. 5th “Teco motors”
Number of monthly unique visitors before SEO 414. Current unique visitors 1480.
(Website not built by Vizcom)
http://www.completepropertymanagement.co.uk/index.html
Google Page 1. 2nd “Property maintenance agency”
Google Page 1. 3rd and 4th “Property management companies north west”
Google Page 1. 6th “Property management Lancashire”
Google Page 1. 5th “Apartment block management Lancashire”
Number of monthly unique visitors before SEO 126. Current unique visitors 435.
(Website not built by Vizcom)
Google Page 1. 1st “Civil engineering products”
Google Page 1. 1st “Structural building products”
Google Page 1. 3rd “Plastic Ducting”
Google Page 1. 2nd and 3rd “Electrical ducting”
(Website not built by Vizcom)
Google Page 1. 2nd “Air Conditioning Manchester”
Google Page 1. 2nd “Air Conditioning Lancashire”
Google Page 1. 2nd and 3rd “Air Ventilation Manchester”
Google Page 1. 2nd “Air Conditioning Servicing Manchester”
(Website built by Vizcom)
http://www.essentialsforeducation.co.uk/
Google Page 1. 1st and 2nd “Nursery toys and equipment”
Google Page 1. 2nd “Nursery equipment suppliers”
Google Page 1. 5th “Nursery toys”
Google Page 1. 2nd and 3rd “Playgroup toys”
Number of monthly unique visitors before SEO 2526. Current unique visitors 4796.
(Website not built by Vizcom)
http://www.carpbaitsonline.co.uk/
Google Page 1. 4th and 5th “Buy bait online”
Google Page 1. 8th “Carp bait suppliers”
Google Page 1. 7th “Fake bait”
(Website built by Vizcom)
What our clients say about our Search Engine Optimisation services
“After just over a week my site is in the first couple of positions on the Google search pages. As a result of this I have had several very good enquiries and received an order which will pay for the SEO work.”
Copy Print Services, Bolton, Lancashire, UK.
"Vizcom Design has worked with a number of my clients to improve their websites through search engine optimisation and has produced impressive results. Clients have reported much higher traffic to their sites and more sales - almost straight away. Vizcom Design demonstrates that Search Engine Optimisation does not have to cost the earth and can be an excellent investment for many businesses."
Richard Boyd, Owner, Red Flame Marketing, Manchester, UK.