Many moons ago, long before terms such as “SEO” or “search engine optimisation” were ever used, a friend of mine used to run a small Guest House.
When he started out, everyone told him how important it was to get “online”. This interwebby thingy was going to catapult his bookings to outer space. All he had to do was build a website…any old website.
Aesthetics, apparently, weren’t important. He just needed to show some pictures of the rooms, slap on some pricing info and add a few flashy “Book Now” buttons.
So he got someone to build a website. Actually, to save a few quid, he got the son of a friend to build it for him. The young “web designer” apparently knew a lot about the internet (well, he did spend a lot of time in his bedroom playing World of Warcraft and watching funny videos on Youtube!).
My friend had some input into the design:
“Could You Make The Logo Bigger?”
“Could You Get That Button To Flash On And Off?”
But the sad fact is he believed this would solve all his problems. Every day he checked his emails with a sense of excitement and anticipation, like a child rushing downstairs on Christmas Day.
But…nothing. No bookings, no enquiries. Zilch, zero, náid. (I think you get the picture!)
Sound familiar? My friend wasn’t alone in thinking all he had to do was build a website and visitors would magically flock to his door. He ignored a vital ingredient. One which could make the difference between having top spot in Google or languishing in the nether regions of the search results.
The answer lies in search engine optimisation, or more specifically on-site SEO and off-site SEO.