Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for Beginners

 Today an average of 1,802,330,400 people around the globe use the internet, just over a sixth of the whole world’s population. However, if you ask most of these people what SEO is you will receive a blank stare in response, despite the fact that SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is rapidly becoming the most effective online marketing tool and is remarkably self explanatory. Many of us come into contact with examples of SEO every day, but we are just not aware of it. It isnot until you actual start studying the techniques and systems used that you are then able to recognise them in existing sites. 

Although SEO can seem a little confusing at first, often it is about just making small modifications to your site in order for it to appear higher up in a search engine’s ‘organic searches’. It is important first and foremost that your site is user friendly; visitors will not want to use a complicated, messy website. This also makes it easier for Google’s ‘crawlers’ to learn what your site is about. Using unique key words and content that differentiates your site from others is also beneficial to Google as it makes their job easier. This is because when Google’s ‘crawlers’ find your site they are able to see what makes your site different to all the others that are also jostling for that top search engine result spot. In many cases the elements are there but are not being used in the correct way, this is where SEO comes in. Using SEO effectively will increase visitor traffic to a site, which is the aim at the end of the day.

SEO is about optimising your website so it gains a better page ranking in the organic search results, however there is no guarantee it will be at the top. Often at the top of popular searches is a section where sites have paid to advertise, this is not SEO but rather PPC (pay per click) which is often used in conjunction with SEO to boost traffic to sites. PPC adverts often appear down the right hand side of results too and attract a lot of clicks, but there can be strong competition for the best search terms. PPC can increase the CTR (Click Through Rate), which is how many people click through on to your site. CTR is essentially the number of times an advert is clicked on divided by the number of times the advert was delivered by Google. The higher the CTR, the more traffic is flowing into your website. Using ‘friendlier’ URLs is also advised so that visitors can see what it is they’re clicking onto, and it is also easier to remember and link to if it is to the point. 

  One of the most important things when starting out in SEO is to make sure your website is accessible to its users. It’s vital that your site is easy to navigate. This way users can quickly and easily find what they’re looking for and will be more willing to use the site again. This is best achieved by having a clear site map, with a naturally flowing hierarchy so the most important aspects are obvious. Also controlling navigation from page to page with text links makes the site easier for both users and crawlers to use. If you bear in mind all of these SEO basics you will be well on your way to improving the popularity of your site, if it’s easier for Google to use, it will move higher up the organic search results and will ultimately receive more traffic.

Vote SEO At The Forthcoming General Election

We’ve see it on the news, read about it in the papers, heard it on the radio... Yes, the ubiquitous debates between the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders just can’t be avoided. Not that we’d want to avoid them – what with Cameron’s clumsily applied foundation, Brown’s offensive tie, and Clegg’s boy-next-door eagerness, they’re providing much entertainment (alongside some interesting political discussion, of course).

So what does this mean for SEO? Well, for the next few weeks, there will be some politically-focused keywords that are typed into search engines by thousands of users everyday. A fact which SEO lovers should be well aware of - those canny Tories being one of them.

Type ‘Labour’ into Google and up pops a Conservative PPC ad, entitled ‘Labour Has Failed’. Can’t get much clearer than that. Type in ‘Conservatives’ and, while Labour have failed to cash in on this keyword (surprising, given how adept their MPs seem at cashing in on anything else), Ann Summers, of ladies lingerie fame, have taken the opportunity to advertise their wares through PPC:

This was an opportunity not to be missed by Orchid Box (we spotted this prior to seeing Ann Summers’ efforts, we promise) . When working on the PPC for London boutique spa, Kuno Tierra, we bid on the keyword ‘Labour’. Now, I can see you scratching your head, wondering, ‘How on earth did they manage to link a political party with a high-end beauty salon?’

Here’s how:

And,

Inspired, no?

It can be a great idea to link PPC to current affairs, because even if your ad isn’t clicked on, you are likely to be seen by a very high number of users.

NB: Orchid Box do not affiliate themselves with any political party.

Moving To A New Domain - Orchid Box Has A New Address

Orchid Box today performed a swift and speedy shift of domain from our old abode in Soho to a fresh and exciting new upgrade in Covent Garden, in the heart of London. We've made sure The Right Honourable General Google is aware, and this particular domain change isn't going to affect our indexation nor find us any new keywords (unlike the fantastic new Orchidbox.it domain!). And at the risk of sounding too geeky, I'm stopping the SEO-related metaphors there.

Orchid Box's Old London SEO Office - Where Dreams Were Made...

At Orchid Box we move like lighting whatever we do!

You can now find us in deepest darkest Covent Garden, amidst the tourists and the street performers, at 11-15 Betterton Street, WC2H 9BP, fighting with our new complicated heater and the bracing cold from the windows (which I am sure are about a millimetre thick...). Hopefully we can get it to stay on for longer than an hour (we're only good at computer technical stuff, see) and then we can take our thawing feet off the computer power supplies and get some real heat. Roll on the summer!

Our name up in lights already! With a rather strange "H"...

We've also got a new phone number, and a reception to answer them for us, plus an amazing swimming pool made out of jelly. One of those three things might not be completely true.

So what are you waiting for? Get ahead of the game in 2010 and give us a bell on 0207866 8101!

(And don't worry, we've placed a 301 redirect from the old offices to ensure we don't lose any customers!)

The Boss pretending to work while others shift boxes...(he's actually watching Youtube)

Aziende al Top - Orchid Box Italy/Italia is launched!

Buon giorno!

Well, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. Or at least those in the amazing land of Italy have been waiting for...

Orchid Box Italia is live and in business. We're already quite possibly the most multi-national office in the world (we've lost track of where everyone is from!) but thanks to our multiplicitous links in the land of Pizzas, Pasta and SEO (that's Italian for SEO) we now have a fresh side to Orchid Box, with the normal SEO, PPC and web development services on offer for Italian companies or Italian-speaking sites. You can find the Orchid Box Italia site here, with a flash new front page for your perusal.

So aziende al top (climb to the top) of Google.it with Orchid Box and enjoy our services in a new language, but no loss of our hard-working mentality!

Does Tiger Woods Need Some Orchid Box Web Marketing Help?

Are things going as off-course for you as they are for Tiger Woods? Feel like you’ve been kicked into the rough, buried in the bunkers, and half-drowned in the water hazards? Tiger for one could certainly do with some help from Orchid Box to gain him some better press.

We’d be happy to produce some quality Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Copywriting so that whenever one searches ‘Tiger Woods’, we get some positive stories about him – like the quote from one of his buxom blondes who claimed, "He came off as being a really nice person. He had manners." And he’s clearly a generous man, given that he presented the same mistress with "a ring, a pair of diamond studs and a watch". (Perhaps he used Google Commerce Search to buy these gifts from Google Store – see previous blog).

And now the contract with Accenture is over, Tiger may be looking for new ways to make some cash – Orchid Box would recommend he protects his brand name via some clever PPC Bidding to drive traffic to his website. Users are currently visiting his site for all the wrong reasons. The website in question - web.tigerwoods.com/index - has almost no SEO love and what’s more, it has been built in .Net, a very search engine unfriendly technology. Plus, Tiger last updated his blog three months ago. Tut tut.

Tiger is taking a break from golfing to spend quality time with the family. On his hiatus, we’d like to suggest that he keeps us updated with his thoughts and feelings via Twitter – his Twitter page (www.twitter.com/TigerWoods has been updated a shameful total of three times. Woods, we want more tweets, or we’ll never forgive you. He’s also been neglecting his Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Tiger), which was last updated on November 6 at 3:59pm – he is a loser in the world of social media networking.  An excellent idea would be to employ us to help put Tiger back on the radar and start rebuilding his reputation online.

Perhaps Tiger Woods is in need of a career change. We have assigned him an empty desk if he wants to do some link building or blog seeding for us - we could pair him up with our interns to learn new, useful skills in web marketing.

From Garage Google to Godly Google - Humble Web Beginnings

Being a startup company ourselves, Orchid Box understand our clients' needs when they have to work within tight and constrained budgets and timings. And every company has to start somewhere, which, in the case of the web, more often than not means a bedroom or dark and dingy cupboard somewhere. So where did some of the biggest web companies today actually begin? Well, let's have a look:

1. Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg, almighty creator of the Facebook "empire", is much publicised as starting off his groundbreaking website in his Harvard dorm. Some might find more fun things to do in their university dorm rooms, but they aren't sitting on an world famous website now valued at around $15 billion dollars. Touche.

2. Google

No. 2 if only so they aren't number one at everything, Google are world beaters. But even they didn't bubble out from the ether in a fully formed global-dominating state. Creators Larry Page and Sergey Brin actually started off in a garage, initially under the name "Backrub" with the pipe-dream of organising search results by more than just keywords. They've come on a bit since then...

3. Digg

Only called Digg because the dig.com domain was bought up by Disney years before, Kevin Rose set up his Digg in his Digs. That is to say his apartment. Now it is a social media website with tens of millions of users throughout the globe. It's all about bumping, or "Digging" the best stories to the top of the page. Great for SEOs!

4. YouTube

Slightly less exciting a start, though it's a close call which is more exciting -  a garage or an office - YouTube originated from Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim and Steve Chen's musing at a dinner party in early 2005. Within months they were hosting millions of videos on the YouTube servers. Google bought it for $1.65bn three years ago, and it now unbelievably makes them no money at all. In fact it costs them money to run. If they need someone to take up the reins, I guess I will...

5. Orchid Box

We can all hope can't we?

[Pictures courtesy of http://www.incomediary.com.]

Perfect Landing pages tips and technology

Effective landing pages are the key to converting customers through paid search. There is little point in spending money attracting people to your site if your pages aren't doing their job properly.


If visitors to your landing pages have clicked through from your ad, they will have a specific goal in mind, so you need to convince them that your landing page is relevant to that goal.

Orchid Box Perfect Landing pages

Landing pages should be tested frequently to see if improvements can be made to increase conversion rates. The only way to be sure of what works for your audience and your market is to conduct structured tests such as usability studies, A/B testing or multivariate testing. The right web analytics tool is crucial.

We do all the work

At Orchid Box, we use proprietary technology to target and optimize landing pages without any time consuming Client's technical intervention.

 

Best Selling Authors Landing page

We wanted to increase conversions (user Registrations) and PPC quality score, therefore we needed a perfect Landing page all optimized for best selling authors.

 

So what we did was . . .

1. Kept the landing page relevant to the keywords you're buying and the ad copy.

2. Removed the right hand navigation and replaced it with relevant news feeds.

3. Kept the rest of the navigation the same.
 
4. Increased the number of images on the page 

5. Hyperlinked all authors name to actual pages on the site.

This page now has 5 times more conversion than any other landing page on the site.