Fused Nation - UK SEO Blog

SEO is a deceptive area of marketing - there are a load of set-in-stone things you (anyone) can do to achieve success - keyword research, on page optimisation, link building - it isn’t that hard and that’s why there are so many people doing it these days.

However, this is more of a technical, black and white approach to online marketing and while it may net you a measurable level of success and a decent ROI, it isn’t going to be enough to make you market leader.  A profit may be enough for most folks, but if you really want to push the boat out and achieve success on a large scale then you need to apply more traditional marketing concepts to your work - a more qualitative approach to marketing as opposed to the largely quantitative route that SEO leads you down.

When I approach a client site, I don’t restrict myself to “just SEO” - hell I could just send the client a templated document with the basics of SEO and let them get on with it.  Personally, I don’t think that’s an ethical approach to take, although I do realise I will probably be in the minority with that call, so let’s not debate it.

What I prefer to do, be it for a client site or a site of my own is to consider more qualitative concepts and try to apply them to the marketing strategy I develop.  Sure it doesn’t always work out that (particularly on my own sites where time and enthusiasm can be short lived!) but it is worth putting them down in black and white for reference anyway.

You can copy, but don’t replicate.  A large basis for innovation is taking an existing concept and making it your own - make it better, implement it differently, etc.  But if you want to achieve large scale success, you can’t simply replicate what someone else is doing - just because something worked well for another person doesn’t mean it will work for you.

Make it better.  If you are in the game for quality then you need to look at ways where you can improve on competing services / products.  You need to start out with a reason for users to choose you over the competition.

Do your homework.  What do users like about your competitor?  What don’t they like?  Are you competing with related services or products?  Research is vital, not just to gauge the viability of your project, but to generate ideas and refine the focus of your strategy.  As a SEO, you might not consider a graphic designer as a competitor.  But if your potential client only has the budget for SEO or graphic design then you need to compete.

Go the extra mile.  Just because your competition get away with offering a basic service doesn’t mean you need to.  It can make all the difference, regardless whether it takes the form of extra features, support or whatever.

Don’t underestimate the value of a happy customer.  You may have only received £1,000 from them, but their happiness can lead on to more business in the future.  Point and case - my recent post on marketing scripts.  A positive experience (contrasted against many competing negative experiences) led me to drop a few links to companies I was happy with.  That in turn can lead to more business.  This is a value lesson in the difference between quantitative marketing (a direct, measurable sale) and a qualitative approach (an immeasurable referral from a happy customer).

Listen!  What are your users / customers telling you?  Do they continually ask for something you don’t have?  Maybe you should offer it!  Are they having problems?  What can you do to fix it.  Unconverted sales can quickly turn into negative experiences - but it is within the realm of your control to quickly change them into very positive experiences.  Even if you don’t end up with a direct sale, the positive experience can result in more business later on down the line.

Strategic partnerships can open up new markets.  Cross promoting your services through other businesses can easily let you embrace a new market at a relatively low cost.  Plus, the relationships you build can benefit you for a long time, while excluding your competitors from that market!

If I had to give one piece of advice to someone entering into business for themselves it would be…

Be the best at what you do.  Yes, there will always be people better than you but you can easily corner your niche market and build up a great reputation for yourself.  The resulting word of mouth marketing (WOMM) will eventually be your greatest marketing tool.  Its better to be good than average!  Seems like such a simple statement, but all too often people focus on what’s happening now and not what they should be aiming for in the future.

A successul business is like working your way from Uni into your perfect career - there’s a lot of shit along the way which can be pretty disheartening, but if you stick at it and do the best you can then eventually success will come.  The trick to achieving your goals is to not to find yourself in that “stepping stone” job 20 years down the line - at that point it is too late.  Grow - innovate - climb - achieve.

MG