SEO to Drive Leads
-
Dear friends,
I have clients asking for SEO to drive leads. I have no experience on it, how could I do that? Is there any web layout I can suggest to my client?
Another question is how do I implemented the layout on the web structure? I usually structuring my website based on keywords.
For example:
Homepage niche: plumbing
Category: london plumbing, plumbing service, etc
Content:
- Finding London plumbing service in your area,
- what kind of plumbing service you should pay attention?
So, based on these layout, my SEO efforts goes to the content, instead of the homepage. Now, the question is how do I increase conversion with these strategy? Is placing a form above the fold would be wise, then place the content below it.
Please advice
Thanks for your kind support,
Albertus
-
Well you can, theoretically, but it can get very technical or be a bit imprecise.
You are correct that you can't really guarantee a set number of leads (what if everybody's plumbing is working perfectly in London this month) but you should be able to track your contributions.
If you use a second phone number on Google Local and the meta description, then anybody coming through that is a SEO lead.
Also, while a bit wishy washy, you should be able to see in your analytics what percentage of people are coming through on unbranded search and then attribute a percentage of web completions to that.
You get more precise by setting up a tracking system, but it'd be a very bespoke set up.
-
Hi Geoff,
Thanks for providing a really helpful answer. This is what I am looking for
You said to avoid being too keyword rich in the early stages. Did you mean we use 1 landing page for all of our keywords? Let say I am targeting 3-5 main keywords for this page.
I am sorry, I am a bit unclear on this part "get a lot of brand links" what do you mean with that?
Thanks in advance,
Albertus
-
Hi Stallion,
Thanks for the answer. Yes, I agree with your point about making the site easy for search engine, so they can provide valuable answer for the search queries.
Regarding my service, I am providing SEO service. Actually, I have run SEO for long time (about 5 years), but all of those projects are for my own business. I decided to jump onto the SEO business since there are so many friends asking for my help to run SEO for their business. BUT, recently I met BIG companies who wants leads as KPI (Key Performance Indicator) and for this one, I have never did this before.
So, with that background I am thinking of maybe there are someone else who have run SEO with leads as the KPI.
Well, this is much easier doing SEO for yourself rather than doing it for clients.
Regards,
Albertus
-
Lead Generation requires you to put yourself in the mindset of the consumer - do some keyword research to work out what is the search intent based on a need. In your example of "plumbing" trigger keywords might be "boiler repair", "radiator installation", etc.
Gather a list of relevant keywords and run a PPC campaign to get an idea of which keywords actually convert for your client – you might want to use modified broad match to cast your net as wide as possible.
Also you have mentioned onsite issues – make sure you have a clear call to action on each and every page. Personally I am not a big fan of squeeze pages / placing forms on every page. I feel it works better to have a call to action that is fairly noncommittal for users like “order a brochure” – the sales process can start once your client has the contact details. In your plumbing example, most people offer “free quotes” etc. (different in emergency cases).
Whatever your client’s niche – talk through the sales process and make sure you understand what would be the very first step in that process and focus on getting as many people as possible to make that step.
Back to SEO – while the PPC test campaign is running starting building links (try to avoid being too keyword rich in the early stages – especially for new sites – so get a lot of brand links). Also look for link targets – build a list of really high quality sites you want to get links from and begin to formulate a strategy to get those links.
Analyze the PPC data, optimize the site for the most profitable keywords and then start to get the odd link from the high quality sites with your important keywords.
-
Hi Barry,
Yes, that is a very helpful answer. Thanks so much for your help.
The reason why I am asking this question is that I have clients who asked for leads as the KPI (Key Performace Indicator), and for this I have never done this before. In my opinion, we can't guaranteed leads with SEO. Is that correct?
So, how do we set KPI for the client?
-
It's true that many find success with sidebar contact forms / top of page contact forms etc however what you are asking is for SEO services. May I ask what service you are already providing for your clients (I'm assuming web design)?
One thing to remember is that SEO focuses on traffic. SEO is about making the website as easy for search engines to understand as possible and then to add content that will help the search engines to identify your site as the answer to user queries it receives. From here it is about link building to gain authority and increase the web presence of the website. The majority of this is done with the sole intention of increasing the websites SERP position which will increase the traffic to the website.
Sorry for the rant, all-in-all, yes you can ultimately increase leads however the base initiative is to increase traffic. You can then see that if for example you have high traffic but few leads that you should address your website for capturing the interest.
What you need is the help of a SEO/internet marketing company or to learn the basics of SEO. If you are looking to do the latter you can start with SEOMoz's 'learn SEO' guide.
-
To drive leads via SEO basically means that you need to have the site put in front of people making relevant searches who then go on to use the service (plumbing in this case).
For this (and assuming you're working on getting certain areas of London to use your plumbing services) you can do several things.
First, read this beginners guide to SEO from SEOmoz. Then re-read it. Then read it again. Now you have a basic grasp of what you need to do in order to get in front of people that might use your service. Effective site structure and good content help.
The other big part of your SEO efforts will be around local search (which isn't something I have a huge amount of experience with).
Again, watch this Whiteboard Friday on local search, you're going to focus on becoming listed and getting reviews on relevant sites.
In order to quantify what leads are coming from SEO I would recommend a web only phone number (involves setting up a second line) and you can maybe try data capture on the site asking people if they would like to be contacted about a quote.
Good luck
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Ranking of non-homepage leads to decrease in website ranking?
Hi all, Google picks up a non-homepage to rank for primary keyword where homepage is actually optimised to rank for same keyword. This means Google is ignoring the actual page and ranking other page. Does this scenario means that we are ranking lower as the homepage is not considered here? We may rank much better if homepage is preferred by Google? Thanks
Web Design | | vtmoz0 -
Please help me articulate why broken pagination is bad for SEO...
Hi fellow Mozzers. I am in need of assistance. Pagination is and has been broken on the Website for which I do SEO in-house...and it's been broken for years. Here is an example: http://www.ccisolutions.com/StoreFront/category/audio-technica This category has 122 products, broken down to display 24 at a time across paginated results. However, you will notice that once you enter pagination, all of the URLs become this: http://www.ccisolutions.com/StoreFront/IAFDispatcher Even if you hit "Previous" or "Next" or your browser back button, the URL stays: http://www.ccisolutions.com/StoreFront/IAFDispatcher I have tried to explain to stakeholders that this is a lost opportunity. That if a user or Google were to find that a particular paginated result contained a unique combination of products that might be more relevant to a searcher's search than the main page in the series, Google couldn't send the searcher to that page because it didn't have a unique URL. In addition, this non-unique URL most likely is bottle-necking the flow of page authority internally because it isn't unique. This is not to mention that 38% of our traffic in Google Analytics is being reported as coming from this page...a problem because this page could be one of several hundred on the site and we have no idea which one a visitor was actually looking at. How do I articulate the magnitude of this problem for SEO? Is there a way I can easily put it in dollars and cents for a business person who really thinks SEOs are a bunch of snake oil salesmen in the first place? Does anyone have any before and after case studies or quantifiable data that they would be willing to share with me (even privately) that can help me articulate better how important it is to address this problem. Even more, what can we hope to get out of fixing it? More traffic, more revenue, higher conversions? Can anyone help me go to the mat with a solid argument as to why pagination should be addressed?
Web Design | | danatanseo0 -
How can i embed my video into a table using SEO embed setting?
We use Wistia.com to embed our videos. They have different options for embed settings and we prefer to use the SEO embed setting, however, when we use that setting we aren't able to insert the video in a table side by side with another image or text. When we try, the video jumps out of the table and the table gets (for lack of a better work) out of wack. When we embed the video with the iframe embed setting, the video can be placed in a table with no issues, but then we don't get the SEO credit. We have our site in wordpress. I'm not sure if that has something to do with the tables getting messed up. Check out this link to see an example of how we want the video to show up. http://www.3000doorhangers.com/ Any suggestions as to how we can use the SEO embed setting within a table as shown in the above link?
Web Design | | JimDirectMailCoach0 -
From Google Sites to Wordpress - Anyone Ventured this SEO terrain?
We have a few sites in Google Sites - and they are ugly! We have a majority (40+) of websites in Wordpress. But we have a few websites just stuck on Google Sites, and since Google won't let you fully edit the HTML, add scripts, or implement any technology since 2000, we want to move. The sad problem - the Google sites are ranking well. We rank well in Manhattan, Atlanta, Dallas, and Philadelphia. The problem is - the sites do not give much room for growth - and the bounce rate is high because they are so ugly. Has Anyone moved from Google sites to Wordpress? Should we just stay with Google and bite the ugly bullet? My fear is that these sites will not allow for growth. It is hard to update them and even harder to make them look nice. To get a sample - beware: www.counselingphiladelphia.com Even another reason to leave: The slider is non-semantic and terrible SEO. Google won't allow a slider script with tags and a hrefs, so the only way to implement a slider is through a Google Docs Presentation that keeps sliding. I know - terrible SEO (#donthate) but we needed something. Any advice and thoughts would help! Thanks Mozzers!
Web Design | | _Thriveworks0 -
Just How Bad is Adobe MUSE for SEO?
Adobe's new website builder "Adobe Muse" has a reputation for creating terrible code. I want to know if anyone has experience with the software and what your opinion is on just how bad the code really is for SEO. I'm currently using "Weebly", which is a similar, but more basic website building software. My results for SEO have been going well using that software, however it's limited in terms of building an aesthetically pleasing website design. On the other hand, you can build gorgeous websites with Adobe Muse, but I don't want to use it if it's going to prevent me from ranking. What are your thoughts?
Web Design | | Alchemist230 -
Keywords in the page url for best SEO
Hello all, I am working in the keywors structure of a web and I have the following doubt: If I want to target these keywords: great food madrid and my website is: http://www.madridlive.com I do not know if I should keep either: OPTION 1: page url: www.madridlive.com/great-food-madrid or OPTION 2: page url www.madridlive.com/great-food I do not know if the search engines "understands" madrid in "madridlive", therefore I can avoid the "madrid" keyword, dicarding option 1 and going for option 2. Additionally I avoid duplication of the madrid keyword that can be seen as redundancy and also have a shorter page url. Thank you very much and sorry for such a question but I am new in this SEO field...just the excellent SEOMOZ's SEO Guide for beginners! Best regards, Antonio
Web Design | | aalcocer20030 -
Should I Remove URL extentions for SEO?
We are having a developer design our website with Magento. I noticed the main pages such as About Us have no file extention in the URL. But the product pages have a .html file extention. I was once told to remove the file extentions. Are there benefits to removing the .html file extension and if so, is there a way we can do this using Magento?
Web Design | | hfranz0 -
What can this charity site do to improve SEO?
Hello wise ones, We have been working with the charity Volunteers of America to create a new site for their car donation program at carshelpingpeople.org They are a national charity with extensive local programs run by regional affiliates, so the site is divided into a small national section linked to Regional Affiliate sections. You get to the regional sections either by entering your zip code or clicking on your state in the bottom nav of the national pages. Right now we have developed regional sections for Michigan, Nevada, Maryland, Washington D.C., New Jersey, Delaware and the Philadelphia area. The site is about 2 1/2 months old, and while our conversion rate is pretty good (7%) our organic search ranking isn't improving as quickly as we'd like to see. Car donation is a very competitive space, and we would appreciate any advice on how to improve the SEO of the site. Thanks so much.
Web Design | | Phibnax0