The PlanetDomain Blog

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a continual battle against your competition. You may be number one today, but tomorrow your competition may implement a new strategy and push you down the ladder. This constant race to the top is one of the least understood factors of SEO. Many clients believe that once they have achieved a strong search engine ranking, they can stop worrying and turn their attentions elsewhere. The reality is that SEO is a race with no finish line. You may be in the lead, but if you stop running, or even slow down, you can quickly be overtaken and left choking on dust.

Since the arrival of search engines, clever webmasters have devised more and more innovative ways of helping their websites appear better within them. Just as an athlete trains muscles and sharpens their spikes before the big race, SEO practitioners hone the code and content of websites to create the most ideal circumstances to get out in front.

But, as in professional athletics, there are always those who find more controversial ways of improving their chances. In response, new rules are created, new guidelines laid down, new penalties implemented. Search engines have continually refined and updated their algorithms and released Webmaster Guidelines to reduce the risk of what they see as unfair behaviour affecting their results. The goal of search engines is to provide the best results for the end-user, the person conducting the search. Therefore, every guideline and penalty is constructed with this person in mind, not the webmaster.

Not everyone agrees with this focus. Some webmasters feel Google should be paying more attention to their personal goals of generating traffic for their online businesses and are prepared to flout the guidelines to redress this perceived imbalance. Those webmasters and SEO practitioners that choose to operate outside of the established guidelines have become known as ‘black-hats’, with those happy to play by Google’s rules characterised as ‘white-hats’.

Winning at Any Cost

As an example, one common black-hat SEO technique is to use ‘cloaking’. Cloaking involves using various techniques to present a different web page to the user than to the search engines. The search engine algorithm assesses and ranks one page, but when the user clicks on the link in the search engine results, they receive different content. Sometimes these differences are minor – an alternative set of links or changes to the content – but sometimes this can mean a completely different page.

When this technique was identified by the search engines, they quickly adjusted their guidelines and algorithms in an attempt to reduce its influence. But the algorithm is not perfect, and many black-hat techniques can only be identified by human monitoring and detailed manual review.

One of the most public examples of cloaking being exposed was the incident with BMW back in 2006. BMW had created special ‘doorway pages’, designed to rank very highly in Google for certain profitable keywords. One of these was ‘used cars’. On clicking on the BMW link, the user wasn’t transferred to a page with high relevance to used cars, but was redirected to a completely different BMW page, with fewer references. This meant that readers were presented with a page less relevant to their search (according to the Google algorithm) than implied by its appearance in the search results.

As a result of this practice, BMW was removed from the Google index until they agreed to remove the offending pages and resubmit the website for evaluation. The potential revenue lost by being removed from Google can be enough motivation for many businesses to avoid any such tricks.

Pushing the Boundaries

Before a technique becomes black-hat, it has to become established as an effective technique and attract a negative response from the search engines. This means that the hugely powerful creative SEO solution of today may become the black-hat offence that carries a penalty tomorrow.

So how do you know whether the fantastic technique you’re using is not going to be penalised or restricted by Google in the future?

Matt Cutts is a Google Spam Engineer at Google and is tasked with identifying and assessing methods of misrepresenting websites – spamming - through the Google algorithm. Recently, he was interviewed at an SEO conference in the States and had this to say. (You can also view the original video.)

“I try not to think what’s right or wrong for Google. I think what’s right or wrong for users and then Google tries to align ourselves with what is right or wrong. The fact that people can already ask themselves what is really good for users and guess what stance Google’s going to take means you don’t really need me to tell them.”

Therefore, when deciding whether your brilliantly effective new trick is going to be supported or criticised by Google, you only need to consider how it affects the end-user experience. This is the point that causes the most controversy, as webmasters argue from their own biased perspectives on what is best for the end-user? When is using cookies to present different information to a potential customer providing a responsive service and when is it deceptive? With no clear arbiter of right and wrong on the web, with even Google’s guidelines arguably a biased and flawed viewpoint, there is enough grey in the middle of this to fuel arguments on all sides.

How Fair is the Race?

Some industries are far more competitive than others and are therefore more prone to black-hat tricks. For example, a Google search for ‘loans’ presents a number of websites that are suspected of using some questionable methods. For a website dealing in loans, it may be wiser to choose some less competitive keyword phrases with a higher chance of success. There are many black-hat websites that are entirely comfortable with the short term gains of their techniques, making money and merely closing down and starting up elsewhere, should the trick be blown. The best choice is probably finding the races where black-hats are less prevalent – the less competitive keywords or different approaches to garnering traffic through blogs and social media, for example.

The Risks – to You and the Industry

Seth Godin, a major and highly respected authority on marketing in all forms, recently discussed the topic of gaming the system in his blog. Optimising results within the rules may be less effective than exploiting loopholes, but loopholes get closed. Short term success may result in long term pain.

What may be a great idea today may cause great damage to your online business tomorrow. The trick used to catapult your website to the top of Google can shoot you straight back to the bottom if the algorithm changes. If your website relies on tricks and loopholes, you may find your website struggles to survive without them and the price of reclaiming your previous ranking may be costly and time-consuming.

Despite the risks, there are many that choose a black-hat path, often out of a belief that the internet should not be bound by rules and guidelines. They argue that Google’s Webmaster Guidelines are no more than a large corporation playing god with the livelihoods of small business.

Google’s success came about because everyone chose to run in their race. There are other races in town, other ways of attracting traffic, but Google was quickly established as the Olympic event in search. If a website doesn’t want to run in the Google race, then they needn’t worry about the Webmaster Guidelines and shouldn’t complain when they disappear from Google. But if the intention is to win the Google race, the rules are clear.

An athlete cannot insist on running at the Olympics only to shout that the Olympic committee is unfair to use their huge status to restrict drug use. Yet black-hats do argue with Google every day on the application of guidelines designed to protect the quality of its service.

Planet Domain offers SEO services completely within the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Entrusted with the livelihoods of hundreds of small businesses, we understand the importance of approaching SEO ethically and with the minimum of risk. You can read more about our search engine optimisation services on our website.

There are over three and a half billion mobile phone users in the world, vastly more than all the computer users combined. Over 25% of these people access the internet on their phones. These figures suggest mobile internet capability is fast becoming a reality for online marketers.

Mobile Marketing

In April ActiveMedia launched ActiveFRONT, a mobile marketing program designed to integrate SMS and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). The initiative was designed to give marketers better access to people who use online communities, which in this day in age means practically everyone.

However this type of media doesn’t apply to the majority of mobile net users. The Blackberry and now the iPhone are becoming tremendously popular and can support nearly as much content as a computer; but most people don’t own these high end devices.

Mobile Internet Today

The regular mobile user has a handset which can’t support CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) presentation. CSS is designed to help web crawlers read document presentation in terms of font, colour and layout. Therefore if you are a mobile marketer aiming at the average mobile net user your advertising content needs to be outlined in clean semantic mark-up.

In other words marketers should write their material in plain old HTML to create simple text-only advertisements. Eliminate any unnecessary frames and decorative images that would slow the loading process for a screen measuring between 100 and 640 pixels. Tabulated data is also a big no. The standard mobile mostly supports only one column of information.

Further guidelines to consider revolve around the physical size of a phone. Condense the entire presentation to fit within a smaller viewing space. The font size for all text needs to be reduced. As does the information contained in the brief because without a mouse or keyboard the user won’t feel like clicking through a large amount of material. The average screen will allow for 20 to 40 characters in 12 to 15 lines.

URL addresses also need to be as short as possible where applicable.

Looking Forward to .mobi

Mobile phones are no longer being used for marketing in terms of just smsing. With the expansion of mobile net use, campaigns can now be better targeted to reach the ideal audience.

.mobi is a domain extension that was approved by ICANN in 2005 and is specifically aimed at increasing mobile net use. To purchase your .mobi today visit Planet Domain.

By Stacey Manson

One of the saddest trends among ecommerce websites is the tendency for online businesses to treat customers as mere statistics or numbers on a sales graph.

But customers are far more than ‘clicks’ or ‘conversions’.

You may not have any direct involvement in each individual sale, with your website taking care of most of the heavy lifting, but customer satisfaction is as much an issue online as it is in a high street shop.

What Does the Customer Want?

A common mistake is to design a website based around what you want rather than what the customer wants, placing the business interests above those of the target audience. If the website is designed for your convenience over the customer, they may find the experience unsettling. A customer won’t buy because it helps you. They are there to serve their own needs.

When designing your site, view it through a visitor’s eyes. Set up the shopping cart to make transactions as easy as possible for the customer, provide confirmation emails and listen to feedback.

It is also not uncommon for businesses to attempt to ‘trick’ online shoppers. Using underhand techniques to bring traffic to a website, sourcing information to inundate unsuspecting people with partner offers and of course – spam.

Spam is the most obvious example of online businesses caring less about the customers and more about the law of percentages. Working on the principle that thousands of emails can generate a handful of responses, spam is purely a numbers game, where the individual doesn’t matter.

But many legitimate online businesses view customers in the same way. If enough traffic sees a poor product, chances are that some will take the bait and buy. The inadequacies of a business offer can sometimes be overcome merely by throwing more and more traffic at it.

Then again, there are some business offers that will never find a customer, no matter how many people see it.

Focusing on the Sale, Not the Result

The disconnected nature of online shopping allows for a greater risk of inadequate services and products, or in extreme cases, fraud. After all, when you receive your item in the post, often it is too much hassle to return it if it doesn’t quite meet your expectations.

But viewing online customers in this way can be very damaging in the long term.

Customers are not commodities, but it is easy to view them as such. As your only experience of them is as numbers on a report or clicks on a purchase button, the human face behind each of these actions is forgotten.

But the customer doesn’t forget. Repeat business is essential, yet customers won’t return if they feel exploited, disappointed or confused by your transaction.

Adding Personality to Online Business

This impersonal new form of customer service is testing some businesses to come up with new ways of interacting with their audience. Some of the more interesting websites I have seen use copy as a conversation, with every step of the transaction prompting friendly and conversational style of dialogue, more in tune with in a face to face situation.

Other businesses are injecting a bit of personality into their websites with blogs, video and images to add a human touch.

But appearances are one thing. Delivering on the service is another.

Don’t fall into the trap of treating your online customers as any less than the customers in front of you in your shop. After all, online customers have the whole internet to complain to.

Like me, do you hate it when a sales assistant approaches you in a shop?

I’m quite capable of choosing items myself or asking for help should I need it. I don’t need someone who doesn’t know anything about me telling me what I should be trying on, driving or listening to. But sales assistants still try to influence my sale, encouraging me to try the more expensive shoes, the larger car, the bigger stereo to provide them with better commission.

So I leave the shop without buying anything.

Yet this behaviour isn’t exclusive to shoe shops and certain menswear emporiums.

Me, Me, Me!

If I were to ask you what your website is about, what would you answer?

If you would say your website is about your business and the products you sell, then you may have a problem.

If you would say your website is about providing a means for your customers to achieve their needs, let me shake your hand.

You may argue your business and your products are about the customer so it amounts to the same thing. But from a customer point of view, that relationship is not so obvious.

Every day, I see websites that attempt to bludgeon the reader over the head with their sales pitch with a complete disregard for the factors that motivate a sale. So many websites talk about how wonderful their company is or how fantastic a particular product may be without once mentioning how these things benefit the reader.

You may be the number one business in your industry, but unless you can articulate why that is important to the average customer, the only person who cares is you. Try to avoid centering your sales pitch on concepts that talk about your success and your business growth. A customer isn’t motivated to buy from you to help put your kids through college or win you another award.

Having pride in your company is important, and showing that pride on your website is great, but avoid using that pride to sell. These things are background details that can indicate reliability and trustworthiness but they are not the core of any successful sales pitch.

“How May I Help You?”

The most effective sales copy completely reverses this concept around. Instead, it refers to the customer, their situation and their needs.

Think of your target audience. Who is most likely to use your product and why? Avoid talking about features and mention how they meet a customer’s specific needs. Don’t use jargon, but write as if you were explaining your product to your mother. After all, I know I need a car, but I wouldn’t know my crank shaft from my carburetor. By describing to me the experience of driving the car, the handling, the tangible benefits or a decent stereo and airconditioning, I understand the benefits far better than I would reading a cold list of engine part specifications and scientific testing data.

By offering a scenario that the customer can relate to, it is possible to demonstrate how your product or service is the solution to their problem – thereby illustrating the benefit. Phrasing copy in these terms encourages the reader to picture the scenario in their minds. Immediately there is a positive association with your product. They are visualising them in your relaxing spa bath. They are enjoying the comfort of your luxury car. They are thrilled by the ease with which your time-saving gadget completes their daily tasks.

But don’t assume this visualisation. Expand on it. Saying your spa provides six jest of bubbles is not as evocative as describing how six jets of powerful bubbles create a more relaxing experience, soothing muscles and calming you after a long day at work.

By putting your mind in the customer’s viewpoint when writing your copy, you will find your sales pitch has far more vibrancy and immediacy. Your website will welcome your readers in, relating to their needs, their fears and their motivations.

Don’t force customers out of your shop. Show that you understand them. Provide answers to their needs. They will do the rest.

For many webmasters, the goal seems to be to attract as many visitors as possible. But if these visitors don’t turn into customers, the investment you made in attracting that traffic is wasted.

When considering whether your website is successful, you need to assess your return on investment based on the number of visitors balanced against the income generated from sales to this group.

But converting website visitors into customers is harder than attracting traffic in the first place. Time and again I come across websites that repeat common mistakes that can prevent visitors becoming customers and will inevitably lead to a costly failure.

Common Website Mistakes

1. Unclear Message

If I were to visit your website by chance today, would I be able to tell within the first few seconds what it is about? Are you a fashion store, a writing blog, a florist, an entertainment venue, a web community or something else?

You may think it is unfair to be expected to sell yourself in a few seconds, but web surfing works in exactly the same way as TV  channel surfing. If you have cable television with fifty channels to choose from, you will flick through with only the most cursory glance at each program before deciding on the show you want to watch.

If a quick glance of your home page doesn’t convey the concept behind the website and doesn’t contain the strongest sales pitch within the first heading and paragraph, you may find all your hard-earned traffic merely hits the back button on the browser and goes elsewhere.

2. No Call to Action

Every website should have a goal. It may be to generate sales or it may be to motivate more people to lodge a telephone or email enquiry. It could be that you want visitors to interact in a particular way with the resources on the website. Whatever the goal is, the copy and structure of the website should be set up to channel visitors towards that goal.

Each page of the website should have only one goal, so you can maximise your ability to funnel visitors where you want them to go. But to do this, each page needs a clear call to action – a phrase, slogan, tagline, special offer or something else that instills a motivation in the reader to act now. If the goal of your product page is to get the reader to buy your product, the page should have copy that finishes with a very strong reason why they should click the ‘Buy’ button right now. The best calls to action tie a firm time factor into the benefits to the reader if they do what you suggest. “Offer only available for a limited time” is a classic (if unoriginal) call to action as it creates a sense of urgency that compels the reader to take up the offer now rather than later.

3. Selling the Features, Not the Benefits

Too many product websites list lots of technical specifications or detailed features that leave a casual reader cold. To help the reader visualise how your product is the right one for them, you need to list the benefits, not the features. “This car is safer, more comfortable and has more space inside” says a lot more to the potential buyer than a list of measurements, component information and mechanical jargon.

There are always going to be interested people who want to know the specifications, because they understand their significance. But most customers are not highly educated about the intricacies of your industry and shouldn’t need to be to recognise your product as a good buy.

A good compromise would be to list features followed by the relevant benefit. “A steel roll cage provides extra protection for your family from on-road crashes.”

4. Putting Barriers in Front of the Sale

If you’ve encouraged the reader to buy your product, don’t place lots of barriers in the way. If your checkout process is too complicated, or if you require registration to complete the action or have a complex navigation that requires a lot of clicks to achieve the goal, the reader will probably give up. This is even more tragic than losing a customer to the previous mistakes as this reader was prepared to follow through before you lost them.

Most online stores list shopping cart abandonment as one of their greatest problems. If a lot of your potential customers start a transaction, but decide to leave before completion, you may need to address whether you are placing barriers between them and you.

Provide easy links. If you’ve suggested an action, place a button or link directly next to or beneath the statement. If you’ve encouraged telephone enquiries, ensure the phone service is suitably manned. If you’ve convinced a customer to buy but the item shows as sold out, provide a means for them to pre-order or to be notified when you have more stock.

5. Ignoring Your Competition

You are not the only online business in your industry. So why should the potential customer choose to buy from you instead of any of the hundreds of other results a Google search will present them with?

Most online shoppers will visit three or more websites before deciding on a purchase. The internet makes it far easier for someone to shop around for the best deal, so you need to be sure the best deal is yours when they visit you.

If you don’t know what your competition is offering, you cannot understand what is affecting your customer’s decision to buy.

6. Overpricing with Postage

When online shopping began to explode many years ago, there was a popular myth that the additional costs of postage and packing were a reasonable expense for the convenience of shopping from home. But most online customers do not agree.

Online customers factor in the cost of postage and packing into the overall price of an item before deciding whether it is a reasonable offer. Yet many online businesses hide the postage costs until the last stage of the transaction, ambushing the unwary customer with a sudden increase n price that can often turn them away and towards your competition.

Many online retailers understand that their price points – including postage – need to remain competitive with traditional high street stores. But high street stores don’t need to factor in postage. This creates a dilemma to the online business in how to maintain a profitable price point whilst keeping the customer happy.

Depending on the product and business model you have, the answer will be different to everyone. But be aware that customers list price and postage as their number one consideration when buying online. Ignoring this factor would dramatically affect your customer conversion.

Monitoring Your Investment

Some websites still do not monitor the essential statistics of their traffic and online sales. Without these figures, it is very hard to interpret the performance of your website. There are many free tools available to monitor traffic statistics, such as Google Analytics. These tools can tell you which links are clicked how often and which parts of a transaction produce the best response. This information is crucial in identifying how to improve your business and to understand customer behaviour within your website.

Is your website making you money or costing you in lost investment?