The SEO Blog

This blog, now 4 months old has just picked up its first page rank – a whopping 2 out of 10.

Not bad really, considering that some sites I know don’t have anything, nothing, zip, after 12 months of being online.  So what is the key to getting a good page rank quickly?

Well, I guess the main reason is publicising your posts.  Don’t just blog aimlessly and expect people to find the content.  Write things that are interesting, and then promote the articles on social media sites such as digg, twitter and Sphin.  Once you start to make posts public via social bookmarking you will find that links start to increase by themselves, especially if the content is interesting.

Blogs are great tools and can help to promote your products and services and an excellent catalyst to help any search engine optimisation campaign, but don’t expect them to do everything for you.  Give them a little helping hand now and then and most importantly keep them up to date with fresh and interesting content.

Ok, not strictly an SEO post – but adding Live Chat to your web site could be the difference between capturing that sale or someone leaving your site to go somewhere else.

Here are 5 reasons why you need to add live chat to your web site:

1. Communicate with your customers / potential customers instantly.  Sometimes people don’t want to send an email or pick up the phone.  They want a quick response to a question via online chat.  Online chat modules have become more and more popular on web sites these days, and you could leave your customers dissapointed if you dont offer the facility.

2. Reduce shopping cart abandonment rates.   Increase your sales with pre-sales enquiries over live chat.  If a shopper gets a fleeting thought of doubt whilst getting to the end of the checkout then let them talk to you!  You can even offer an incentive over the chat to close the deal!

3. Help customers find specific areas of your web site.  OK, if your site is well optimised and your navigation is efficient then this point should be null and void – but sometimes people can’t find things that easily and need a little helping hand.

4. Build trust and credability by being able to deal with customer enquiries quickly and efficiently.

5.  See stats about your web site visitors.  Find out what pages they have visited and build up a history of interaction through click throughs and transcripts

For more information on how you can add Live Chat to your web site visit http://www.liveperson.co.uk.  We highly recommend this chat client and find that the cost is very reasonable!

Ever seen the Guinness advert here in the U.K.?  “Tick followed tock” and the finale saying how long it takes to pull the perfect pint of Guinness?

Well in my world SEO is like a pint of Guinness, in that the best results are found by people who persevere and remain dedicated to the cause.

SEO is not, and should never be sold or perceived as a quick fix.   It is a science, one that is to be studied (if not totally understood) with great detail.   Changes to results in SEO can take months, and the best way to measure the performance of these changes is to limit them to one at a time.  It’s not uncommon for SEO campaigns to take 6,12 or even 24 months to yield rewarding results.

SEO comes with no performance promises – you can never guarantee a position in the rankings , so be wary of anyone who promises the earth.  There is a very big chance they will not be able to deliver.  Ask your SEO about their long term strategy.  Talk to them about keyword analysis, periodic reviews and realistic goals.

If you need help with SEO or are looking for a Search Engine Optimisation consultant give eSoftware Solutions a call on +44 (0) 845 838 8588 or email ian@esoftware-solutions.com.  We would love to talk to you about your project, even if you just want a little bit of advice.  After all, SEO is no secret and we are happy to help.