Sizzle Media’s guide to SEO

As the owner of Sizzle Media, a successful multi-award website design and search engine optimisation company, we offer efficient, affordable web development and web design services to business across the UK.

After a very successful run designing and building ecommerce websites, we are now offering a cost effective search engine optimisation to businesses wanting to leverage maximum results from the internet.  SEO is still considered a business luxury and maybe even a ‘black art, certainly many SEO companies will want you to believe that it’s something beyond the average business persons understanding - It’s not!

SEO has become the most significant part of everyday online business, and over the last couple of years I have met hundreds of people and owners of a wide variety of enterprises who are still in the dark about SEO, and are willing to learn about the secrets of SEO, so they can get the maximum benefits of online marketing for their businesses.

Understanding how SEO works is key to helping your business succeed. Ofcourse you may not have the time or skills to conduct an SEO campaign, but having an appreciation of the process will help you, the business owner – understand what this ‘dark art’ is all about and maybe have a dabble yourselves.

Sizzle Media – SEO Manchester are helping several companies and individuals achieve online success, and we have a library of case studies to back up our claims! Not only are we helping our clients get the website they need and helping them achieve top rankings for their websites, we are also helping them to establish a solid online reputation.

These days SEO has gone to a completely new level and it is not just restricted to optimising your website. Rather it is about optimising a plethora of assets such as websites, forums, blogs, micro sites, press releases, videos, social media marketing and a lot more. It’s for this reason I have decided to develop a short book about SEO, to give you a complete understanding about search engine optimisation, the terms used and how they can benefit your business.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will be releasing snippets and industry secrets that will help you understand the benefits of SEO, and allow you to get involved with easy tips and tricks that can be applied at no cost to promote your business online.

Watch this space as we release teasers for each chapter. If you want this information sending direct your inbox, sign up to our newsletter and we will keep you updated.

As a web based business, you are online with over 150m websites, and growing, in the world today. As the recession bites deeper and deeper every day, how do you make your website is as easy as possible to find? The key is through search engines, the biggest of which is Google, the God of search engines, which can account for as much as 80% of the traffic going to your site.

What exactly is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search Engine Optimisation is a combination of processes that centres around making your websites content easy for search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing to index, find and display. It's hard to get across the importance in driving traffic to websites, and it’s certainly not something all business consider when deciding to take the plunge and have a website designed and developed. Most businesses are concerned with the aesthetics of their new website until they receive little or no business, and then they realise there is another element to business online.

All internet users use search engines every day and generally only look at the first page of search results, maybe even the first few results. So if a customer is trying to find your website, and you want them to find something you are selling, and you’re not listed on page one or two of the search results, you will only find people who do their research visiting your website, which is greatly reducing your target audience.

So how does Google decide on how websites are listed?

Google makes hundreds of instant assessments of your website, from the site's content to the structure, and even the speed of your server to determine the order of search results, and the exact formula known as algorithms, are a closely guarded secret that are changed around every so often – giving new business the opportunity to gain a foothold on the internet.

The criteria are for how your rank is roughly split between on-site factors such as the actual quality of code and content, and off-site factors that include the number of links pointing to your site from popular websites. Google has recently cracked down on links coming from poor quality websites that jumble content together purely for link building, a common practice with Search Engine Optimisation companies.

How do you make sure your content is indexed by the major search engines?

Google is the biggest of the search engines and the general rule is, if it works for Google then it will work for the other search engines. Google publishes its own Search Engine Optimisation guidelines and regularly makes updates. They have a whole suite of very powerful webmaster tools that if mastered, will help you really boost your websites rankings.

To ensure your website is indexed by Google, which means the search engines automated bots known as "spiders" will “crawl” your website's content and decide whether you have fulfilled enough of their criteria to put you on the map. Websites that are made from Flash or comprise of sliced up graphics tend to be ignored by search engines for the most part. From this point, good search engine optimisation is a balance of good editorial and technical development. Content - particularly your headlines - needs to be descriptive based on the keywords you want to be found for and wrapped in the correct code. Some Search Engine Optimisation companies try to shortcut and trick Google, by loading your websites pages with way too many keywords, or with hidden pages that use links in bulk with duplicated content and the odd word changed here and there. Many SEO companies fail to appreciate that Google is not stupid and has very advanced systems in place, and sooner or later they will catch you out.

How do you know what choose as your keywords?

A major part of Search Engine Optimisation is identifying the correct keywords to use for your business. Google has a tool called Keywords tool which is really useful in identifying your industry keywords. Your chosen keywords can the form the basis of your content and using them appropriately in headlines, opening paragraphs and where possible in the url of the webpage.

Do not assume that you will be able to tailor your content and website for heavily searched items with minimal effort. This is where professional search engine optimisation companies in to their element. Most of the companies that sites on page one will have SEO strategies in place and in all cases have an SEO company managing their campaigns. If you intend to conduct Search Engine Optimisation on your own, then chose keywords that are maybe not as competitive but are still relevant to your business. You might not attract as much traffic but you will be attracting quality enquiries based on more specific keywords.

How do you choose the right Search Engine Optimisation company?

You found us didn’t you!

Find out more at SEO Manchester

It seems like the answer would be an obvious yes, after all you need Search Engine Optimisation services to help your website generate business…right? Unfortunately the truth about SEO is not as straight forward as you might think.

There is a wide variety of Search Engine Optimisation strategies that can easily eat up any budget you have available; from a few hundred pounds to a few hundred thousand. Services like link building, content writing, search engine marketing, PPC, social media marketing, banner ads, directory listings and a dozen other things that can be used in the hope that they will drive traffic to your website. What if we were to tell you that all this cost and effort might be a total waste of time, and may be benefiting your competitors more than you!

By applying all the above tactics to build up your online profile, you might have driven lots of traffic towards your website, but the true measure of success is an increase in sales, enquiries and the phone ringing. Even with all these extra hits and visitors, you still don’t have a measurable increase in sales; you might wonder why this and you are not alone. This is a common scenario for businesses that blindly invest in Search Engine Optimisation.

The reason for this lack of results is quite simple; many businesses think that by being on page one, or number one for their desired search term they will catapult their businesses to internet stardom. This is unfortunately not the case. Maybe once upon a time when the web was still young, being at the top of the charts was enough, but in today’s day and age the competition is fierce and your customer is very web savvy.

Imagine being invited to a party that promises to be a star studded ball in the best venue in town. You pass lots of other parties that look great but when you get the ball you find it’s in a backstreet and you’re served a cold kebab – disappointed? You bet, and you’re probably going to make a bee line for one of those parties you just passed. Why, because your expectation wasn’t met when you got there. This is why SEO doesn’t work on its own. If after all your effort on search engine optimisation; your visitors end up at a site that looks like your mates nephews’ brothers mother designed it, your investment in Search Engine Optimisation will have been for nothing.

No amount of investment in Search Engine Optimisation can force people to engage with your business. What gives visitors the confidence to contact you? You need to have the right calls to action, good content, good graphics, intuitive navigation, good layout. If you don’t have these basics in place then the person just below you on the search engines is only a click away. Their website is professionally designed, features all the right calls to action, and ticks all the boxes. By having a poor website, what you have actually done with your SEO efforts is inadvertently promote the competition.

When starting any Search Engine Optimisation campaign; look at your strategy as a complete buying cycle. When a visitor gets to your site; does it meet your target audience’s expectations? Is it easy to navigate, does it look right, is the content correct, does everything work like it should, does it inspire the visitor to take action and engage your business, or is it going to leave them confused and unsure, sending them running to your competitors?

At Sizzle Media SEO Manchester, we take a holistic approach to all our projects so you get the best results for your budget. That means a great site, the correct SEO strategy and a good dose of honesty. Some results can be gained quicker than others for a small budget. Some keywords are so fiercely fought for that they require teams of SEO specialists dedicated full time to getting the desired results.

Find out more about how Sizzle Media SEO Manchester can help your business leverage the power of the internet by calling 0161 820 8577 today, or email info@sizzlemedia.co.uk

We're full-time nerds at Sizzle, so it's essential that we're able to keep up-to-date on the latest goings-on in the exciting world of geekdom (when we're not busy being Manchester's best web designers, of course). And what better way to do so than via the medium of blogs? This post is going to serve as a little introduction to some of our favourite blogs and news sites, and might help introduce you to a whole new and exciting web community!

One of the best blogs on the Internet, Engadget provides the brand-spanking newest updates on technology-related news and product launches, keeping everyone informed about the latest gadgets they're not going to be able to afford. They're in close competition with very-similar-but-not-totally-the-same Gizmodo, but we prefer Engadget's spaced-out, airier design. Although they're very similar in terms of content, really.

Next up are the SEO blogs. There are two resources we love here at Sizzle, SEOmoz and SEOBook, although both suffer somewhat as a result of their totally anti-Google opinions. We like Google - their existence has been great for the Internet! There's also a fair bit of competition between these two, with regular articles 'calling out' one another. But they're invaluable resources which do great jobs of discussing sleazy SEO tactics and providing impartial, sensible advice about site development and usability issues. SEOmoz also has the brilliant YOUmoz blog, providing user-created articles for even more search engine reading.

Speaking of google , every good nerd should keep up to date on the official Google Blog, as well as the blog of their public-facing 'Search Quality' guy Matt Cutts. These provide platforms for Google to announce their latest developments, while providing an insight into the inner workings of The Big G. Very interesting stuff.

.net magazine is a great (if a little simplistic) resource for budding web developers, hindered only by the fact that transcribing code from a paper-based magazine is awfully hard work. But this isn't an issue for their web-based version, which compiles the latest goings-on in the worlds of web design and technology news, with regular featurettes on popular sites. It's a little less jargon-driven than the other sites discussed so far, but is still a fab web design resource.

Design-wise, we're big fans of Smashing Magazine's blog. Lots of links to really cool-looking sites, handy CSS design tips and tricks, and some really stunning bits of graphical design. Phwoar.

For video game news, you can't beat VoodooExtreme, aka VE3D. There are many sites like it, but something about VE3D's design and writing style just grabs us. And you can't beat high-definition gaming trailers without having to link out to some external, advert-ridden site.

And finally, there's Fluid Creativity's blog. While they're technically our 'competition', they're also very cool dudes. Problem is, we can't find the 'Older' button anywhere on the page, so are limited to only reading the newest posts! But a grand blog regardless, with links to Fluid's recent media design goodies.

In the world of SEO it seems everyone is out to make a quick buck. Questionable SEO firms promise businesses limitless leads, instant #1 listings, and a whole host of 'too good to be true' shenanigans.

For example, we were recently approached by a firm stating that we could get the #1 Google search result for 'web design Manchester', or our money back. At first glance, this seems perfect. We had a look into the SEO firm's tactics - hundreds of almost identical, spammy, low-quality websites serving the sole purpose of linking back to their clients. This is what's known as a link farm, designed exclusively to funnel Pagerank to client websites. Google doesn't like link farms, because they're attempting to fool the system. And everyone knows the first rule of SEO is 'Never annoy Google'.

SEO firms also love to promote things like 'Site Structure Analysis', where they look at every bit of your website's code then tell you what you've done wrong. We've lost track of the amount of times our clients have had someone tell them they're "missing the keywords tag", and that that's why they're not rolling around in great big piles of money. In reality, the keyword tag might've been the be all and end all back in 2001, but nowadays Search Engines are much smarter, and over the last 2 years missing keyword tags have very little or no impact on SEO. And here at Sizzle we're dedicated to keeping on the edge of web design and search engine optimisation techniques, and so we don't waste time on redundant technology!

Another issue is the 'W3C Compliant Code' business, insisting that our clients should have 100% valid 'Strict' XHTML, and that doing so would make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. Now don't get us wrong. We love strict XHTML, and we aim for it with every site we make, but that doesn't mean it's a neccessity, nor that it's absence is an issue. And besides, search engines are smart. They're very capable of pulling information from all but the most poorly constructed sites. As you can see from our website we're all WC3'd up!

Finally, our last rant goes to the international spam centres which offer '5,000 hand web directory submissions' and similar. The problem here is that all of these directories will be off-topic and rarely visited. Google can tell when you've been spamming, and nothing reeks of it more than thousands of poorly-worded links from general websites. And if Google thinks you're spamming, that's it. No more search engine visitors. You can't afford to annoy them! 20 links from quality, hand-picked niche directories are infinitely more valuable than any number of ones from spam-infested general dirs. And do you really want the link to your site showing up next to adverts for pharmaceuticals or other undesirables?

SEO is an ongoing job. It's not something you can 'do' in a week or even a month. Good, long-lasting results take a considerable time to develop. If you're promised results in a miraculously quick time, you're getting ripped off.

Here at Sizzle, we pride ourselves on being honest with clients. If you want good, ethical link building, you're on the right site. Want instant results? We'll handle your Pay Per Click campaigns. If you want something suspiciously cheap which runs the risk of total and permanent removal from Google's index? You'de be wise to get a second opinion first!

We aim for greatness at Sizzle. We realise that our pay monthly websites have to not only appeal to humans, but to search engines too. So when we build a site we constantly grade and re-evaluate aspects of it in order to provide the best possible business advantage to our clients.

That's why we love sites like Raven's SEO Analyser. It's by no means perfect, but it gives us a pretty good gist of how well-tuned is a site towards search engines. While we don't pretend that every site we make is going to get 100% right off the bat, we aim to constantly improve scores over time, with high scores being the eventual goal of any site we make.

Raven's tool provides a decent (if brief) report into the aspects of on-page SEO which, when combined, can make real differences.

Over at the Official Google Blog, there's an update about the newest bit of Google Gimmickry - 'SearchWiki'. In a nutshell, it lets you re-organise your search engine results pages, adding comments and removing unwanted results. At a first glance, it might seem like a pretty nifty bit of gadgetry. But on further inspection, it just seems like Google are trying to find ways to make people hang around results pages for longer, thus gaining more Adsense (Google's Ad Network) hits and making more profit for The Big G. (more...)

Today marks a monumentous occasion in the history of Manchester's I.T. industry - the launch of the Sizzle site! From this day forward, businesses across the North West will be able to get the professional web design they deserve, at highly-affordable prices and done with a smile.

You might be thinking 'who are these guys?', so let me explain. (more...)