We aren’t surprised at all that more and more Kenya companies and individuals are getting to us for seo services. It has been slowly, but eventually more firms & small businesses are realizing the enormous potential of internet marketing. It also dawning on them how online marketing can turn out to be frustrating when done like traditional/conventional marketing. It’s then that they seek internet marketing consultants to get things done
And why is that, you may ask. Well, you have a well designed smart website and you are proud of it, very proud! You are now ahead of your competitors, right? Wrong! The hard fact is website is no longer giving you any competitive edge, it’s a must have tool now. So what happens when it eventually dawns on you that your website isn’t being visited by potential customers- that actually only you and some of your family/friends know it even exist?
One month, two, six, ten… and still nothing. Things get really tough, confusing and somewhat annoying. After all, your real direct competitor website is ranking well, for terms people use when searching your products/services on the search engines –Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.
There you go searching for how to rank your website…and then come across this thing..the SEO. Yes, search engine optimization! They call it the art & science of dominating search engines results pages (SERPs). And there are very many & different seo experts, each with his/her opinion of what works and doesn’t.
It’s even get more confusing when the search engine optimizers (seos) tell you that there is no definite formula to high rankings. Yes, they agree some factors like quality links for relevant, authoritative website counts, good web content etc are important but definitely not everything. Google, the giant search engine says the use hundred factors in rankings and they keep working on them to improve results.
But you found a good seo company, which solved your rankings woes. You paid well and got well done job. Now you don’t worry about first page rankings, not all! Despite Google Panda/farmer update, you still maintained or even improved rankings.
Then one thing just dawned on you. Rankings are all time high since last two, four months. Ironically, the sales seems stagnant or even going down! The numbers of email requests, calls are on decline. What the Heck is not happening?
Here are 2 reasons why your rankings may not be translating into sales
Poor site usability
Conducting full website optimization is crucial. Ignoring optimization of website for usability is disastrous. Seo is really important; it’s how you make sure you get targeted traffic to your website. But what happens when the customers/prospects get to the website?
How easy is it for average internet user? Can they contact you in the easiest way possible or do they have to fill page long contact form? Your website is just a funnel in getting that sale closed. Make it friendly and easy.
The flow to the desired action should be natural. Visitors get to website, like the service/product, sees the next step well defined (call to action- buy Now, Get Quote, Subscribe Now, Call Now etc) and act accordingly.
Say, I want office delivery for Nyama choma. There I go, google “nyama choma delivery Nairobi”. Got the first page & clicked. Am on the website, the services are well described and the photos make choma look really delicious. So what next? A button to make instant order.
I click. What comes up? An order form. Good? Not at all. Why would they need me to fill the gender, the country, the postal address, whether I have a cat , the last I ate choma, how I heard them etc? It’s totally frustrating!! What do I do? Hit back button and go to another website. Meaning, they just lost another sale.
Your Top ranking results are getting out clicked
Yes, you got the rankings, but searchers aren’t clicking your search listing. If you looks into your search traffic analytics and you have impressive impressions and surprisingly low Click Through Rate (CTR), this may be the problem.
Good website optimization will get you high rankings; but it will not get the people clicking – Optimizing for human will. Sample this: I search “Nyama choma delivery Nairobi” and here are top two results:
Of the two results, which one would you click? I rephrase, of the two results which sound human, credible, and organized?
I doubt I would even want free sample from first result. See my point now? Why do you skip the top most result and click the second, third, fourth etc?
It’s very possible that the second results get 7 out every 10 clicks despite being out ranked. Simply said, it’s out clicking the top listing. Its no wonder you can have high rankings and no traffic.
Seo is very important in your internet marketing campaigns, and when combined with user experience optimization, it’s totally awesome!
