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 If you have a website, you should be looking for ways to rank well in search engine results. But with millions of websites competing for attention, you may feel like you're playing a lost battle. What if we told you that it's easier than you think? Some simple yet effective strategies can majorly improve your website's search result ranking and here’s how.
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 Marketers have been talking about “content is king” since Bill Gates first coined the phrase in a 1996 essay when describing the future of the Internet. So now, 27 years later, does that statement still carry weight?
Content is a great equaliser when building a brand, establishing authority, connecting with an audience, and maintaining credibility. Use of this strategy, will allow you to grow your business and get ahead of your competitors. Why? Because people will read and share a compelling blog or video regardless of the messenger.  Interactive content may come in a variety of sources, including: surveys, quizzes, psychological assessments, raffles, giveaways, ebooks, animated infographics, general questions, and videos. The possibilities really are endless. These tools are a way of converting your target audience from passive readers into active participants.
Only a few methods can match the effectiveness of interactive content in establishing a connection between the brand and the target market.  According to
 Are you failing to get leads from your website? Does it feel like a ghoul has hijacked business leads? Are you scared about this ever-changing world of digital marketing? Well, Perfect Layout are here to rescue you from your nightmares as we explain how Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) works. If you put in place these strategies, you will see your ranking improve. Are you ready to handle more leads coming to your business?
If you’re serious about wanting people to find you through a Google search, Search engine Optimisation (SEO) must be at the top of your priority list. For example, you you're a structural engineer looking for people planning major works to their property, you want to be sure that you website can be found. How long form content improves your website’s visibility and other benefits you can get from it9/9/2021  One of the most important aspects of digital marketing that marketers often deal with is content. The competition in the world of content marketing is getting more demanding. Business owners need to keep creating content that will make them stand out from the competition and keep attracting potential consumers. Here’s how long-form content can help.
 A website create a first impression for a company. It is therefore important to choose a design that will be attractive and easy to use for potential customers. A poorly thought-out website design may cause potential customers to close the browser and switch to a competitor’s website. Likewise, poor website design will impact the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy.
What is content marketing? Content marketing is the strategy of digital marketers to publish interesting, helpful, and relevant content related to a brand without directly advertising the brand.  Keywords used to reign supreme with regards to SEO, but those days are long since past. The rules of SEO have changed from a keyword-centered scheme to a topic-driven approach. Content marketing is a vital part of inbound marketing, where the goal is to move your potential customer to where you want them to go by giving them valuable and compelling content.
Your site's content should be relevant to what your site is about and not randomly packed with keywords. Your content should be engaging and seize the user's attention straight away. It is a vital building block in creating content for your website so that it won't have a high bounce rate. Don't fall behind your competitors with antiquated thinking about how content should be created to improve your SEO. The key is content, not just keywords.  SEO Stands for Search Engine Optimization and basically refers to the processes that are followed when it comes to optimising (getting the most out of) a website to be ranked by search engines. The most popular search engines on the internet are Google, Yahoo, Bing and Microsoft.
When a website is designed and developed, it should represent more than just a portfolio of your products and services. After all, what’s the point of having a website that looks awesome, but goes unseen by the people that would like to buy your wares? SEO is the technical part of marketing online as it helps your website get promoted to the correct location – right in front of buying customers. There are various techniques used to get more traffic to your website from search engines, which can be broken down into two categories. Off-page SEO, is the work undertaken externally to a website and on-page SEO are the changes made on the actual website.  Have you considered starting a blog for your business but you’re not quite sure if it would be of benefit? You're aware that creating a regular blog will take up your precious time and you aren't sure if it is worth the effort? Well today, we’re hoping to dispel your worries and explain to you how a regular blog can help your business in a number of positive ways.
 Here's a sobering thought. Most blogs are created, and then abandoned. Yes, most new bloggers write just one post, and then give up. This is mostly due to the weight of their own expectations. I've been blogging for the past decade. I have literally hundreds of blogs, and while I may occasionally get bored with a blog, I've never found it difficult to write for my blogs. Writing is both relaxing, and fun for me. In this article I'm going to give you four easy tips which will help you to write more and write well on your blog -- and have fun while you're doing it, just as I do. 1. Imagine Your Reader - Your Reader Is a Real Person Yes, I know that you have thousands of readers, or you hope that you will have someday. But consider that each of those readers is one person, sitting in front of a computer screen. You need to talk to that one person, and not the crowd. Get an image in your mind of the person you're writing the blog post for. It's easiest if you imagine one of your friends. Pretend that you're writing each blog post specifically for your friend. When your readers are real people to you, it's much easier to write for them. 2. Stop Thinking About Writing As "Writing" "Writing" can seem intimidating. You're self-conscious. The bad news is that it takes years to lose your self-consciousness when you write, but there's good new too. The good news is that you can lose your self-consciousness today if you wish. All you have to do is stop thinking about writing as being writing. Here's an easy trick which works for many people: write each blog post as an email message. Start with a salutation, such as "Dear Fred". Then write. When you're done, delete "Dear Fred". You've just written a blog post. 3. Create a Goal and Achieve It Whenever I create a new blog, the first thing I do is create a goal for that particular blog. For every blog I own, I have goals. As soon as I achieve a goal, I set about creating a new one. Your goals can be as simple or as complex as you please. For example, you might have a goal to get 50 readers by the end of this month. Once you start thinking in terms of something that you want to achieve and you have a deadline, your mind gets to work creating plans. You'll find all sorts of ideas pop into your head for how you might achieve the goal. Write the ideas down. Turn your ideas into tasks, and enter each of those tasks into your calendar. Now all you need to do is complete your tasks each day. 4. Build an Inventory of Ideas: Brainstorm Ideas for Blog Posts Brainstorming is fun. I like to sit down with a sheet of paper, and just think about my blog and the people I'm writing it for. Then I just start writing ideas as a simple list right down the page. It helps me if I get away from my computer when I'm brainstorming. A change of location might work for you too. Go and sit in the garden, or go and sit in a café and brainstorm there. Be perfectly relaxed as you brainstorm, make it fun. In fact, you can use this phrase to get started brainstorming: "Wouldn't it be fun to write about________". Try these easy tricks. They make blog writing fun.  Organic SEO or search engine optimisation is one of the most powerful online marketing strategies available to webmasters and bloggers. It takes a combination of high-quality content, social media presence and other factors to climb to the top of the search engine rankings for your specific keyword phrases. Without the right ingredients, your SEO strategy can actually backfire. It all starts with the keyword phrases and the theme of your content. Without unique, high-quality content, you will struggle to find your website or blog listed on Google, Bing, Yahoo or any other search engine. According to Optimonster these are the most important SEO ranking factors:
Below, you will find the top five organic search engine optimisation techniques and a few tips to help you gain a larger web presence. SEO is no longer a world dominated by the website receiving the largest number of backlinks. Good content Content matters and it must be high-quality content. Low-quality, poorly written content doesn't rank very well because it doesn't provide the user with a great experience. The goal of Google and all other search engines is to deliver the best possible search results for their users. High-quality, usable content provides the type of experience internet searcher want. Most searchers seek information, such as a solution to their problem or a how-to type of article about something specific. When your content delivers this type of experience, you gain higher ranking on the search engines because they consider your content to be high in quality. Use videos or images Not all content requires a video or an image, but the use of both or at least one can greatly aid in ranking higher in the search engines. Images provide away to break up your content, give the user something to draw them in and give you the opportunity to increase your on-page SEO. Whenever you provide a relevant image with your written content, you can change the ALT tag and the image title to match your theme. By using your main keyword phrase or a secondary keyword phrase as the ALT tag and title of your image, you score extra SEO points. Images also provide a second benefit. Google and other search engines will list the images in the "image" search category. This means, when somebody is searching for an image and they find yours, it could potentially lead them back to your website. However, if you don't provide an image title or ALT tag, you may not get listed. Videos are another very powerful way to deliver content. Providing a video with your written content gives the visitor a better experience, as long as the video fits with the content. This is a very powerful way to build better organic SEO. In addition, videos tend to gain higher ranking on Google than some written content does. We can constantly find out more concerning techniques for organic search through correct searching. Create a blog Websites without a blog can still rank high on Google, Yahoo and Bing, but they are missing out on one of the most powerful organic search engine optimisation techniques online today. Blogging provides the ability to target a broader subject area and cover very narrow topics within the broader spectrum. Every blog post acts as a small traffic engine and provides the opportunity to gain more traffic from the search engines. Think of blogging this way, when you post high quality content to your blog, it's like deploying an army of individuals with a stack of business cards. Each blog post will go to a different corner of the internet and attract a different type of individual to your website. Not only can the blog posts take over first page ranking on the search engines, but they also help you build a community. If your blog post covers topics somebody is interested in, they will subscribe to your blog. When somebody subscribes to your blog, you gain multiple opportunities to sell your products and services to them.  Use social media Social Media is not going anywhere and it is important to be present on all relevant platforms.Google and other search engines track the networks that your business is connected to. Social signals factor heavily into organic SEO and if you want to rank high for your target keywords, you must use social media and social bookmarking. Sites, such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest many others offer great leverage if a business is looking to increase their organic search engine optimisation. By sharing blog posts across these social media sites, gives you the ability to increase organic search and gain social traffic. Meta tag your website
Your META title, description and tags are really important to your overall SEO. Search engines use the meta data to better understand what your page or post is all about. When a search engine creates your listing, the meta data is used for the title and description showing up for your page or post. With the right title and description, you improve your SEO positioning. Now that you know five of the most important techniques to help you get organic search traffic, it’s time for your to take action. This is not an overnight job, it takes a strategy, a plan and then dedication to keep it up regularly. If running your business is taking up all your time and you need someone else to manage your organic search traffic for you, contact the team at Perfect Layout on 01708 578 015.  Whatever type of business you have, there is no getting away from the fact that people will expect you to have an online presence. Whilst some business owners are able to make a reasonable income via social media platforms (like Facebook and Instagram) or e-commerce platforms (like Etsy and Shopify) having your own website has many benefits. If your budget limits you from hiring a website designer, or you are attracted to the idea of creating a website yourself, there are many website providers to choose from. They will advertise low-cost packages with guidance on how to do it yourself, but will the end result generate more customers coming to your site? Five top tips to having a great website  Top tip 1 – ensure that the content on your site accurately reflects the services/products of your business. Your bounce rate will increase if your writing style includes over long sentences, has grammatical mistakes or has a dull/flat tone. Analyse your competitors and review what does and doesn’t work for them. Let your website reflect your personality and the type of business that you have so that you don’t come across as cold and boring. Brainstorm the terms that your customers search for you. Googles keyword planner is a tool that can help you pinpoint relevant long and short tail keywords. Having relevant keywords allow search engines, like Bing and Google, to match the right business to the right customer. We understand that creative writing is not everyone’s cup of tea, so if the thought of doing this doesn’t sit well with you, why not give us a call? We have an excellent copywriting service that can be accessed in isolation or as part of an ongoing package. Top tip 2 – be sure to encourage your conversion rate by giving those perusing your site every opportunity to get in touch or make a purchase. Using Call to Actions (CTA’s) throughout your website are a great way of nudging customers to act. CTA’s can be contact forms, telephone or current special offers.  Top tip 3 – gone are the days when all websites were difficult to view on a mobile phone. Business owners on platforms that are not mobile friendly will be penalised by search engines, which could negatively affect your rankings. When creating your site, make sure it has the ability to respond to the device (mobile phone, laptop or iPad) that is being used. Customers do not like websites that have poor navigation. Make it easy and obvious for people to find their way around your site as clumsy navigation that has not been thought through could lose you income. Top tip 4 – take the time and get your business listed on external directories. This will help boost your online presence as search engines view you as a trustworthy business. Read our blog for more details about why your business needs to be listed on directories. Top tip 5 – consider the layout of your website. Have a theme that limits the use of colours, fonts and gifs. You will want each page to look its best and engage with customers – not distract them. High engagement leads to a higher conversion rate. Pages that are cluttered will prohibit users from scanning text for key points. The use of photographs can really bring a website to life. Avoid using stock images, wherever possible, as they can depersonalise your business. Having images of yourself, staff and business premises will assist customers build a picture of who you are and the service/product you offer. This list will definitely put you on the right track to getting the most from your website. If you find that later down the line your rankings haven’t improved, why not get in touch? Our Perfect Layout web development team are ready to help!  The success of your website is determined primarily by its content. Good content is what sets your website apart from the masses and delivers the right message into the minds of your customers or audience. Having clear, relevant and keyword-rich content that delivers the right message with power and conviction is the key to success. The content of your website should always begin with proper market research. Taglines and slogans that are customer-centric (focusing on the needs of the customer) are essential to capturing their attention. The content on your website should target your audience, engage them and persuade them to take action. Content marketing involves the creation and publishing of content and sharing that content in order to acquire customers. This information can be presented in a variety of formats, including blog posts, videos, white papers, infographics, case studies, and so on. Posting relevant, valuable and frequently updated information on your website will help boost your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). It will also help by placing you in the position of an expert and allow you to build relationships with your audience professionally.  Your SEO keywords are the key words and phrases in your web content that make it possible for people to find your site via search engines. Quality content writing is the most important part of your SEO. Keywords are very important for every business and a website drives targeted web traffic to your business for free. When a visitor uses a search engine, like Google, to find what they are looking for the content on your website comes under scrutiny. With quality content and SEO-friendly formatting the Google algorithm will look for important words at particular places on your web page or blog post – thus enabling you to get found. Another important detail to keep in mind are long-tail keywords. These are keyword phrases that contain at least three words, and sometimes more. Long-tail keywords are used to target niche demographics rather than mass audiences. In other words, they're more specific and often less competitive than generic keyword terms. They are very specific to whatever you are selling. So, said more specifically, whenever a customer uses a highly specific search phrase, they tend to be looking for exactly what they are actually going to buy. Some businesses choose to include keywords relevant to their business in their domain name. This strategy works as long as the name is in line with the brand identity for the website. It is also important not to limit your business by choosing a name that is applicable for your business only in the short term. Let your 5 to 10 year business plan reflect where you want to be long term. One way in which to create relevant and powerful SEO keyword-content for your website, is through brainstorming. Try and put yourself in the position of your customers and think about the words they might use to search for the services and/or products you are offering. This process can be undertaken on your own or in a group.  Because algorithms are constantly changing, it’s paramount that you keep a fresh eye on the content of your site. If people are changing the way in which they search for you – the keywords on your website will need to reflect this too. Why not have a look at your site today and think through some of the keywords your customers might be using. Do they appear on the pages of your site?  Simple answer - YES! Whilst there are website design companies like us that optimise websites for a living, undertaking this role is something that you can do yourself. For example, designing a landing page that’s built for leads doesn’t have to be an overwhelming nor time-consuming exercise. By simply looking at examples of some of the best converting lead generation websites, you can learn precisely what works and why. If you want to attract visitors who have a strong intention of ultimately using your services, your landing page will have to have plenty of good content, quality links and authority.
 Last week, 13 July, Christine Huntingford from Perfect Layout Digital Marketing was invited to give a presentation at the Havering Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) breakfast meeting, where members and visitors attended. She thought long and hard about what to talk to them about and decided to make it an interactive session with the participants and let them know in 10 minutes, after a few simple checks, whether their website was working well for their business and whether their website and digital marketing need some real Tender Loving Care (TLC).
 The Perfect Layout has a team of copywriters that can create relevant content for your website. Having a team means that we are able to provide a wide ranging bespoke copywriting service that caters for all markets. You will have seen us write about content in our blogs before. The importance of content on your website relates not only to the visitors to your site, but also when it comes to being found by search engines like Google. We understand the importance and will ensure that the language of the text: • reflects you – the face behind the business • your ethos – what your business stands for • and describes your services and products in a way that will engage your customers and allow them to quickly grasp what you do  It’s paramount to create content that people will be interested in reading and that’s exactly what we do. Our process is simple. We will meet with you face-to-face or arrange a time to Skype or talk to you on the phone. We are good at asking questions and the more questions we ask, the more we will be able to write in a way that sounds like you. We want to hear how you would speak to prospective clients so that when it comes to writing about what you do, it will be as though you wrote it yourself. We will ask questions like:
These are questions you could ask yourself now. Does the content on your website answer these enquiries? If not, it may be time to either re-write your content or give us a call. The fact is, whether you are in the line of work that provides a locksmith service or have just started your own firm of solicitors – the principles behind asking these types of questions remain the same. For every service, we’ll incorporate relevant facts that are appropriate. For example, your new firm of solicitors will need to include an overview of how the law impacts on what you do for your clients. It’s always key to remember who your target audience is to ensure that your services can be understood and accessed by as many people as possible. The content we produce will also incorporate keywords relevant to your sector. Are you a locksmith that is able to change the locks to only certain doors? If so, describe the type of doors. Do your services cover a certain area? If so, describe the services you provide and where. Does your business offer a 24 hour lock changing service? If yes, then say how and where your out of hours facility works.  Let your content build a picture of how you are... Think of pertinent questions that your customer might ask and answer them. That way you will begin to build a picture of your business that will contain relevant keywords to get you found by your customers as well as the search engines. Other than listening to what you need, our service also includes offering ideas that will help draw out the best aspects of your business. For example, ideas that will: • make you stand out from your competitors • incorporate current trends within your industry that should be included in your content • include changes that are occurring in the local area that could have an affect your service Get in touch if you feel that your content is in need of being re-worked. The bottom line is, great content will get you noticed for all the right reasons! Give Perfect Layout Digital Marketing a call on 01708 578 015, email us at [email protected], or complete the contact form below.  There are good websites and there are bad websites. If you have had a website for a while, but you find that you are not getting much from it, in terms of traffic, leads, calls etc, it could be that people are finding your website tricky to navigate or difficult to find the right information. I know it’s hard, but every six months or so, it is worth doing an audit of your website with, 'a fresh pair of eyes’, to check that everything is relevant and it all still makes sense.
 Blogging has definitely become a more popular way of engaging with customers since it first appeared in the late 1990’s. The purpose behind blogging has also changed. When it first appeared, its purpose was mostly to relay a person’s thoughts or opinions about whatever took their fancy. These days, the concept adds value to the business world and, as a result, many online businesses have taken to writing blogs about their industry, service or product in order to take advantage of the benefits.  So how does it work? Today, content is a huge factor in what drives the internet. It’s what search engines love to find and use to rank a website as an authoritative and trustworthy site - hence content being at the top of the pecking order when it comes having a great website. You may have heard the term ‘content is King’? Well, the importance behind that term still stands and writing blogs is a way of creating the content that will boost your rankings. You can read more about the importance of content from one of our earlier blogs. What are the benefits? Having a blog for your company can: · Get more customers/traffic looking at your website via inbound links · Demonstrate that you're an expert in your industry, whilst reinforcing your brand and credibility · Improve the performance of your website and SEO (search engine optimisation) As you can see the benefits of starting a blog and sticking with it can really benefit your business. Why not create social media pages too (like GooglePlus, Facebook and LinkedIn) as other platforms that will help you reach more interested parties. You can post links to your blogs on your social media pages that will help maintain and generate interest. Three statistics that will make you want to start writing a blog today!
The downside to writing a blog… …time. Yes, I’m afraid there had to be something! Making the time to invest in planning, preparing and writing great articles is what can put a lot of people off. If you’re currently finding it impossible to put aside the time to do this; or if the thought of getting creative and writing a blog chills you to the bone - then why not let us to do it for you? We have a team of great copywriters that are experienced at writing about all types of subject matters in a natural and free flowing way. So increase the online traffic to your website and start your blog today!  If you’re new to the idea of having a website made for your business, or you’re thinking about having your current site revamped, it’s important that you take a long hard look at your content. Your homepage is particularly important, as it’s the page that represents the ‘shop front’ of your site. You want people to look through the window, open the door and peruse further by looking at other pages, and ultimately engage with you and buy either a service or a product. Enticing someone to make a purchase takes work and that’s when many businesses overlook the need to write about all that they do on the homepage. Thought should also be given to the words (keywords) that someone might enter into a search engine when looking for your service or business.  These methods go towards optimising a page – basically packing in what you can (in a natural, free flowing way) to hold the attention and inform the visitor, as well as being found by search engines. In order for you to be found in this way you should include an overview of the following: • Who’s behind the business, the ethos • What services the business offers • What products the business offers It should reflect a bite-sized version of what you have on your about page, services page and products page. Try and make the content throughout your site unique and on the homepage, you should aim to write at least 800 words, preferably more. But what if you have a business that is based on producing visual goods or services – like a cake shop or a photographer? People just want to see the end result right, not read about how it was made? Whilst many people do skip to the gallery and review the end result before committing to buy, many users these days want to make an educated decision prior to that happening and who can blame them. Today, more than ever, people have a greater choice about which service provider to use. With so much choice, this means that businesses have got to be more transparent about what they do and how they do it in order to look unique amongst the competition. It would be hard to appear exclusive in a couple of paragraphs (unless you’ve got some serious marketing money behind you) compared to doing so in 800 or so words. Read more about the importance of writing great content from one of our previous blogs. If the thought of writing creative, relevant and interesting content overwhelms you, why not let us help?  No two websites are the same and no two clients have the same requirements or work in the same way. Perfect Layout offers a content creation service for customers who don’t like writing or simple don't have the time. If you require this service on top of us building your website, your product will take longer for us to complete. In the consultation stage we will decide on a site map for your website – determining the pages and subpages most appropriate for your site. We will also determine how visual your site will be and how many images you may need for each page.  If you have a collection of your own photos we may be able to use those, alternatively, Perfect Layout Digital Marketing can source high-quality stock images for you. So once the foundation is in place and all content and images have been approved – the turnaround time for showing you the first draft of your website can be as short as two weeks. Call or email Perfect Layout Digital Marketing to find out how we can help you: 01708 578 015 or [email protected]  As the saying goes, ‘you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure’…In our business, quite often we are told by clients that their friend or a family member was building/has built their website but: …they have spent months (even years) working on it and it’s still not finished ...it doesn’t look the way they thought it was going to ...it's not working the way that they want it to Usually, when they are a friend or family member (and not a web designer), they invariably take an off-the-shelf package thinking 'how hard can it be?’. It’s true that building a website from one of these off-the shelf-packages isn't necessarily hard, but do they really know what they are doing? Do they really understand how to make a website perform well and not just look good? There are thousands of cook books out there and it's easy to follow a recipe, but that doesn't mean the results will always be the same, or that what you make will even taste nice. There is a knack to good cooking and the same principle applies when building a website. Often it's the things that look simple that can be complex underneath.  Building a website in itself isn't rocket science, but there is a method to making a website great. A website with all the right elements in place will add value to your business. A nice looking website, may simply be aesthetically pleasing but does nothing for the growth of your business. The fundamental components you need include: Superb content By that it needs to be clear, well-written, grammatically correct and keyword rich. Content IS King. Being found in search results is determined by the search engines algorithms matching the users’ keywords with the content on the site. If your content is sparse, poorly written, not properly thought through (using a range of keywords) it is likely that you will feature low down in the rankings. Search Engine Optimised headings Headings carry more weight than body text, so ensure that your headings are relevant to what your audience is searching for. Using keyword-rich content in header tags will improve the search engine visibility for your target keyword. Mashable also recommends not having the same article title as you would for your page title, and advises how to write a good meta description. Easy to use navigation If your user experience is cumbersome and clunky, it's likely to put customers off. Make sure that you think carefully about how your users might navigate through your web site. Keep it clean and simple. Before you ‘go live’, test your website out as if you were visiting it for the first time. Can customers navigate your website easily? Is it clear and easy to understand? Could any steps be simplified? High quality images, but not high resolution There are so many stock photo agencies these days, that having low quality images is not an excuse any more. Your photos need to be clear and crisp, but they must also be saved as smaller files. Large image files will make loading your page slow, which may put people off staying on your website. Calls to Action A Call to Action (CTA) on a website is a prompt to get the user to take some specified action. It could be a button asking you to ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Subscribe’. Visually it can be a button or hyperlink. When designing your website consider how your customer might want to get in touch with your business. Are you making it easy for them to do so? Are you giving them choice; email, online forms, telephone numbers? Find out more about why Calls to Actions are important.  When Perfect Layout Digital Marketing works with customers, these are the core principles which we adhere to as the starting point for building their website. These fundamental steps are the foundations to having the building blocks for great online presence. Though don’t be mistaken with thinking that the work starts and ends with a website alone. Consider the website edging of the puzzle - there are still other pieces to put together before the picture is complete. Perfect Layout Digital Marketing can talk you through what other digital strategies would work best for your business. Perfect Layout can of course create a website that looks great and functions well - but we prefer not to do that. Because we want your business to beat your competitors and bring in a consistent stream of genuine customers, we encourage our customers to take up a support package. Month-by-month we will monitor your website against the competition, check where it is ranking in organic search and, if needed, suggest tweaks. We also apply other digital strategies to ensure that your visibility online is not just limited to your website. Are you active on the right social media channels? Is your business listed correctly in external directories? If you are unsure of what your next step should be, give us a call and let’s have a chat today.  The term ‘Content is King’ has been bandied about for many years. It’s something that you may have heard mentioned on one of the blogs at Perfect Layout or whilst perusing the internet for news and top tips on how to make your website attract customers.
 It was earlier this year, when we were away for my son's rugby tour, when the stars seemed to align and offer me another opening for a client for newly formed Perfect Layout. As you do (when staying in a holiday camp as part of a rugby tour) I headed to the club house to socialise with other parents from the team and partake in a little beverage - mine was a white wine! As I arrived at the table, I heard one of the dads moan about his website and how it was doing 'nothing' for his business. In the seven years that he had been with this reputable household-name web design company, he said that the only calls he was getting were cold calls. All of his work came from word of mouth. He was thinking of ending the contract, as he was paying a considerable amount of money each month with no real results and couldn’t see the point in continuing.  I decided to join in the conversation and let him know about Perfect Layout Digital Marketing and the work that we do. I didn't lay it on thick; that's not how we work. But I asked him what the domain was and that when I had a moment I would take a look, do a quick website analysis and let him know my observations. Over that weekend, when I found a connection to Wi-Fi (not so great in the middle of the country) and had a look. I was shocked! This reputable company was taking a fair amount of money each month, for nothing. Their web account manager appeared to be always on the upsell telling him if he did x, y and z, their organic search would improve. What a joke!!! The only credit I can give - and don't get too excited - is that their website was on a mobile friendly platform, but the content was next to nothing! Across the entire site was a total of approximately 500 words. How would his company ever be recognised for the services he offered when there was no content talking about what he did on his website? How were search engines expected to return his company in organic search when there was so little to go on? Through a few sketchy headings, you got a sense of what they did, but it didn't even come close to what the recommendations are today regarding the amount of content there should be on a website. It also failed to explain the services they provided and there was no geographic explanation of which areas they served. No wonder he was miffed in spending money each month on this. To cut a long story short, we recently launched his new website (Oct 2017). We created a comprehensive home page giving a full overview of the company and developed unique pages for each of the services offered. Each page is rich in keywords, making it easier for the algorithms to decipher the business that this company is in. We are confident that in the next few weeks, we are going to see his site climbing up in organic search and that in the near future he is going to be receiving calls and winning new business.  This is the point where most companies would hand the website to the client, say thank you very much and leave you to it. Not with Perfect Layout. With all of our customers who are on a monthly package, we will invest our time on other digital marketing strategies. In our opinion, having a great website is like making a cake with all the right ingredients. If you want a fantastic cake you will need to enrich it with flavours and toppings. In today’s world, being basic just won’t make you stand out. So the moral of the story is: listen, because you never know what you might hear...and more importantly, speak. Don't ever be afraid to tell people what you can do, especially if you can offer your services. Whilst it was a 'win' for Perfect Layout to sign another client, our mission is always to strive for a 'win-win' all round. We will monitor the site month-on-month and continue to apply digital marketing strategies to ensure that this website gets noticed. If you're not sure why your website isn't delivering leads to you, give us a call. Let's have a chat and we will schedule a free website consultation. What's your website status? If you’re a business that’s just starting out, jotting down ideas, creating a strategy, it’s never too early to start thinking about the type of website design you might have. Perfect Layout is a company that gets excited about helping new and established clients obtain a website that’s designed just right for their business. Every project is met with enthusiasm and we are happy to offer our advice about how your ideas can be translated and understood by your customers when in website format. Identifying your target audience is key to ensuring that your future plan takes into account the ebbs and flow of the ever-moving online traffic. Your website design should include photographs that are personal and reflective of the service you provide. Content should be interesting and applicable to your product and written in a language that draws people in. During your free consultation, Perfect Layout can help you focus and offer ideas that you may not have thought about. As an online business, it’s paramount that you get this right or otherwise you’ll end up stuck, going nowhere fast. Be inspired - have a well thought out strategy Travelling home on the motorway recently (from a wonderful week in Cornwall!) the strangeness of people’s behaviour whilst driving really struck a chord. All lanes had traffic, but it didn’t stop many drivers constantly swapping lanes. The effect? The traffic slowed down even more rather than speeding up. And there I was thinking that us British were always patient whilst queueing! If you’re a business that is constantly changing its strategy, trying to get ahead of your competitors but getting nowhere fast, it may be time for you to take a new approach. If you’re a new start up business or your website hasn’t been looked at for a while or you’re a business working without a website – now is the time to make that change and get in the right lane to making your business work. We’re not like some motorway drivers that can’t help but change lanes when they come up to a bit of traffic. We think long term and avoid reactionary behaviour. A constant 55 mph is way better than bombing it at 70mph for a quarter of the journey then travelling at 30mph for the remainder.  Let Perfect Layout clear your path for the perfect website. |
