You’ve just spent a bunch of money on a website, it looks great, it does everything you want it to do, it’s your shiny new digital shop window and you can’t wait for your customers to come visiting. Weeks go by… you check your analytics hourly in anticipation, but…. Crickets.
You Google ‘how to get visitors to my website’, and find a few results of consultants or agencies promising to get you more traffic to your site through SEO.
You Google ‘SEO’, and find out that it means Search Engine Optimisation, and it helps your website appear in search results when people search for your business.
It seems legit, and so you talk to a consultant who says a bunch of technical jargon and promises to have you ranking on page 1 for your business name in no time.
You pay the money, the consultant gets to work, a couple of months and many dollars later, you find that when you search your business name online, it comes up right at the top of the search results.
‘Awesome’, you think.
But then you check your analytics again….
Crickets.
You get hold of the SEO expert, they say you’ve got what you paid for… your business ranks number one in Google, maybe they say they can help you get more traffic but only with more money and more time.
At this point you’re done. You don’t want to keep funneling money into something that has so far got you very little in return.
Hopefully, this story doesn’t sound too familiar to you, but sadly, I have heard a similar story more than once, and the resulting attitude from the business owner in question is not too positive towards digital marketing or online business in general. Which is understandable.
So what went wrong in this story?
The ‘SEO consultant’ in this story is one example of worst case scenario when it comes to hiring a digital marketing ‘expert’. They’ve promised something that is in reality not that hard to achieve, but adds very little real value to a businesses digital presence. That being – getting a website ranking for the name of the business.
This is one of the most common things I hear from businesses who are just starting out with SEO, and it sounds like this: “When people search for *my business name*, I want my website to be right at the top”.
A good SEO expert would stop you at this point, and say – if people are searching for your business name, then they already know who you are, and you don’t need to spend time or money on trying to get in front of them!
And things can get worse than this
The example above is actually just someone taking advantage of a business owner who doesn’t know any better (why would they? They’re not the digital expert!). There are even more dodgy practices out there when it comes to SEO… practices that are not only a waste of time and money, but that can be downright harmful to your business and your bottom line.
Specifically I am talking about black hat SEO practices, which go against Google’s best practice guidelines. Things like link networks, hidden text or links, cloaking or sneaky redirects… which if discovered by Google’s algorithm, will result in your website being punished in the rankings, and for you that means a loss of traffic and therefore a loss of revenue…
Less than ideal.
Now for the reason you shouldn’t hire an SEO consultant
An SEO consultant or SEO agency by definition is incentivised to focus on getting your website ranking in Google, by whatever means necessary.
They are not incentivised (usually) to ensure the rest of your digital presence is working for you, and adding value to your bottom line.
It’s not SEO’s fault! Done well, SEO CAN be a really effective way of getting more traffic to your website, and honestly, there are some good SEO experts out there that are worth hiring (despite the blatantly attention grabbing headline of this blog).
But.
SEO itself is just one element of what should make up a good digital marketing strategy, and although the result of good SEO is an increase in organic (read: free) traffic and new potential leads to your website, the reality is that it can take a lot of time and money to get your website ranking highly.
What should you do instead then?
Great question.
Here’s what I do for my clients.
Step 1: Build your digital presence by choosing the most appropriate digital platforms for your business. The obvious one is a website, but then there are social media profiles, local business listings, and Google tools to name a few.
Step 2: Optimise the way these platforms work together, and the way customers move through them. Once everything is working together to create a good customer journey, and you are consistently publishing good relevant content and having quality interactions and engagement online, the trust and authority in your website starts to build.
Step 3: Capitalise on your solid digital presence by driving even more traffic to it through paid advertising, Google adwords, and email marketing. This is the part where you can start to dial up your business, creating consistent and predictable leads, and really enjoy the power of digital marketing.
So.
If you haven’t worked it out by now, I’ll make it clear.
What I’m saying is:
Don’t hire an SEO consultant…
Get in touch today to find out how I can help you create and optimise a digital presence that will help you be seen online and get more of the business you want.
Speak soon.
Josh