I would like to blog every week, but usually there are just too many other things taking up my time.
And a couple of weeks ago, I had a crisis. Not of the ordinary type but the sort of crisis that engenders absolute panic for a non-techie with an internet based business.
Yes, my laptop went into terminal crashdown. It would still switch it on but crashed every couple of minutes. So I knew that the time had come when I had to reinstall the operating system and software. I’ve never done this before so, like any amateur techie, I was suitably nervous and not looking forward to the process.
It took the best part of 3 days to do the reinstall and get it working properly. But thankfully it all seemed to go to plan and the laptop is working better than it has for the past year, so it was time well-spent. And I’ve learnt how to do it for the future, which is all part of the journey of being a self-employed internet based business owner.
SEO business progress
Of course the experience made me realise how dependent I am on the internet. I’ve been trying to monitor the extent to which my more focused use of SEO has helped improve my business over recent months. It’s very difficult to confirm this objectively as really the only measure I have is the number of queries from my website or Twitter or LinkedIn.
I have “met” a few accountants and bookkeepers via Twitter this past year, more so than in the past. But I still get more queries via the website, from accountants, bookkeepers and business owners who find the website from an SEO search. Compared to the same period last year, my query rate has increased significantly. I’ve never kept a running total of queries, but I know from my “prospective client” list that the level of interest is at least 2 – 3 times higher than it was last year and there has been quite a noticeable increase in my visitor numbers according to Google Analytics.
Now, depending on the search engine and the terms I use, the placement levels for www.vatexchange.co.uk are always different. I never measure myself against the big accountancy firms – we inhabit different worlds in a lot of ways. But if I compare myself with independent practitioners, I’m at the top of the list on a couple of searches, on others I’m lagging way behind general practice accountants or tax advisors who I know for a fact don’t employ in-house VAT consultants. But in most cases, I’m on the first page, so that’s a pretty good result for a sole practitioner with only herself and the occasional help from techie friend for resource.
What I find interesting is that the queries that come in via the website nearly ALL mention the fact that they found the website useful and interesting and that’s what prompted them to contact me as opposed to other advisors who came up on the SEO search.
So it got me wondering whether the old adage is true, that, in these days where social media for business drives a lot of online marketing activity, “CONTENT IS KING”. Would businesses be better off spending time and money developing a really good website instead of their SEO campaigns?
I think that every business profile is different and for those of us who are self-employed, the main benefit is that we can develop our business to fit round our personal or family circumstances. I always knew that my business development would be a marathon rather than a sprint. Much as I love the idea of www.vatexchange.co.uk having some sort of instant success I’m not sure that I’d be able to cope with it! I have a few ideas of things I could do for YouTube, although I promise that they would never include a video of me singing and dancing…..but for now it’s me and the website.
www.vatexchange.co.uk started in 2008 when I was actually quite ill and could only work very limited hours and often in the wee small hours in the morning. I love writing (yes even about VAT!) so putting together content for the site was a good way of working around my own circumstances at the time. I’m not saying it was the best way to start a new business, but it was all I could do and I felt it would work eventually. And it’s doing quite nicely.
The concept behind this website was to provide information about VAT in a way which was more approachable, even with a bit of humour, and to provide a resource for people to come and ask for a bit of free help on the subject.
The website IS the marketing campaign and while I’ve never expected to have visitor numbers approaching those of Amazon, I was always looking for steady, sustainable growth that would generate the level of business I can service.
And yes, the social media activity is helping. Twitter is probably the best and easiest way of increasing brand awareness albeit to a limited number of people. But I know that to get my website onto the front page of any search engine, it has to have plenty of good and relevant content and that seems to be working.
Brand awareness or marketing?
I’ve been thinking about the interaction between SEO marketing and websites. Many businesses have a difficult time differentiating themselves from each other – accountants are a good example and I’m often surprised that accountants’ websites typically consist of a couple of pages with the usual list of their “positive” attributes and a contact page . They’ll spend a lot of time trying to get people to contact them via the website but then the website has no real content. For anyone with limited knowledge of the accounting world, making a choice based on this really is little better than choosing a mate recommended by the proverbial “man in the pub”.
Most business, be it accountants, painters and decorators, retailers, undertakers, have limited USPs. In fact, with accountants you could pretty well take any website and substitute a different name. We all know the usual list of attributes such as “value for money, honest, practical money saving advice etc etc”.
So why spend all that time and effort on brand awareness from SEO activity when people then visit your website and find nothing to differentiate you from your competitors? It seems to me that’s where the marketing begins.
I think running your own website is brilliant – you have this open window to the world where you can talk to people and start developing a relationship before you even know their name. So make the most of it. It doesn’t have to take a lot of effort – even a short article every couple of weeks about something business related with your own spin on it would help to differentiate you from your competitors. It doesn’t give instant results but after a few months, you’ll be building up your own library of information and writing that enables prospective clients to get to know you.
Anyway, that’s my pennyworth for the time being.
Have a great weekend!
Marie