When was the last time a Googlebot came through to your website, clicked a link and purchased a product from you? Or maybe clicked the ‘contact’ button on your website and called a member of your sales team?
Never.
I’m commonly referred to as a ‘Search Engine Optimisation Consultant‘ or ‘SEO Consultant‘, as I work with clients to deliver results for their businesses through Google.
Do I optimise for Google? Sure, I put in place the necessary on-site mechanics which allow Google to view and extract information from your site to allow Google’s users to find you. There’s no denying that easing the way for Google to index and rank your site is essential, however your overriding focus should be easing the way for your customer.
Having your site optimised for Google is only part of a longer process of ‘optimisation’.
You need to optimise your site for the end user: the guy who needs to quickly relate what YOU offer to what HE needs. Is this relationship built with Google? No, Google is simply the introductory service which brings you and your customer together. A virtual:virtual Match.com.
Cater for the search engines and you’re catering for the wrong audience. Googlebots click your links because they’re programmed to. Your customers click your links because they want to. So make sure your site caters first and foremost for your users. Earlier in the year I published an article Google Is Your Ultimate Critic, focusing on how Google stands inbetween your business and your customer. Google’s entire business philosophy is based upon giving searchers exactly what they’re looking for… quality content which matches their search criteria.
I'm sure their are better things you can be spending your marketing budget on...
Time and time again I speak with business owners who are piling money into Adwords in a reactive manner. They’ve seen their competitor’s ads showing on common topic searches within their industry and are sweating at the fact that they’re losing business. Their solution? Pack a few rounds of monthly marketing budget into Adwords and retaliate. Granted, short term they’ll see a nice bump in site traffic. ‘Wahey! More visits equates to more enquiries!’. WRONG! More visitors to a brochure-styled site, with little emphasis on matching content to seach criteria, not only wastes your hard earned budget but also paints a poor picture of your overall business. More traffic could be LOSING you more sales or enquiries rather than GAINING more enquiries through a focused site.
Your site needs to scream to customers ‘WE KNOW WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR AND WE’RE THE BUSINESS TO PROVIDE IT’.
Take a moment and revisit a few pages within your site. Will they trigger this level of emotion with your potential customers?
A site optimised primarily for Google is a site that is packed with repetition and terminology that you predict your prospects will use. This is all well and good for delivering visitors to your site, but optimisation purely for Google is a small fraction of the entire optimisation process.
What you need to be optimising for, whether search engine-related or user-related, is the click.
The ‘click’ represents the affirmative action that the customer takes when they have engaged with you and your business.
The ‘click’ takes place externally from your site, either through your Google ranking results or a site link. The click brings the user to your site. The click engages the user with your site… and the click delivers your business with online results.
Click Optimisation – the methodology that triggers all ‘parties’ within the online marketing channel to work with you and your business.
- The Google Search click
- The ‘Contact Us’ click
- The ‘Add to Basket’ click
- The ‘Subscribe to our Newsletter’ click
- The ‘Order Confirmation’ click
- The ‘Find out more’ click
- The ‘Download now’ click
They’re all the necessary [and I usually hate to use this term] ‘Calls to Action’ [there you go, I said it], which progress users through the traditional sales or marketing channel.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be providing new articles upon the topic of Click Optimisation. Specifically, each of the ‘clicks’ mentioned above and how you and your business can build the necessary click optimisation process to deliver a successful WINNING online marketing strategy that caters for your prospects, not the mechanics of the process.
..I'm the one on the left.
About The Author;
Ian’s career within the Search Marketing industry spans longer than Google’s! Since 1996 Ian Rhodes has worked with a wide range of UK and International businesses developing strategic online marketing campaigns that deliver winning results.
Prior to his consulting career, Ian worked for one of the UK’s first online retail businesses delivering cost-effective online campaigns centred around SEO and Affiliate Marketing. His success led to him being recruited as the European Marketing Director for the world’s largest online travel company. In 2004 he practiced what he preached setting up, from scratch, his own highly successful online retail business turning over £2mill in the first 4 years of trading…purely through a mixture of SEO and Paid Search Advertising.
If you’re looking to build your online revenue or lead generation techniques simply click Contact Ian or call +44(0)845 519 5650 today.
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