I believe SEO is the root to thriving an online business. It’s the reason I learnt this skill inside out over the past decade, it’s also the reason I can work from anywhere in the world. It’s the single most effective marketing method in my personal opinion. You are giving people exactly what they are searching for, when they need it. What more could you want.

But,

If you have a good SEO campaign in place where you rank for a number of profitable keywords, but you find you aren’t converting a lot of customers then you might have a design issue.

Let’s take this from the other way, let’s say you have a great looking website, you’re site is designed by the best agency in town and you have a branding campaign that Nike would be proud of. It’s all going well until you don’t get any customers. What do you do? You might try social media marketing, PPC and eventually you will likely half try SEO.

The problem lies (in both situation) SEO and Web design were treated differently. They weren’t built to be interchangeable.

They are the same thing and that’s something people do not remember.

Build a website that looks great & RANKS in Google. If you can do that then you will be successful in generating revenue online. Whether that be through generating leads for a business or making sales in an online store.

Below is the process I wanted to talk about that I personally believe results in building a successful business of any type. If you can take these out and refine it to any business you will be profitable.

Stage 1 – Concept & Branding

Always start with the concept.

If anyone knows me then they know I really hate ideas. Ideas are worthless. No one cares if you have a great idea. The best business men and women in the world probably didn’t start with the best idea in the world. They took action on their idea and executed that idea well. That’s the difference.

Nevertheless you have to start with your concept. This can be as simple or complicated as you like, but of course simple businesses are best. Let’s use the example of an online store that sells shoes. The idea is simple, we want to sell shoes online.

Branding is semi-important. Again this is something that people overcomplicate to the hills. If you cannot build a brand then you cannot have a business. BUT this brand doesn’t need to cost you £50k to build to be good. Some of the best brand designs in the world have started on fiverr. There are hundreds of multi million pound businesses that still have logos they purchased from fiverr. So get something up. If you can afford to hire a branding agency then do so, but please hire a good one, otherwise you can end up paying £10k for a $5 logo.

Stage 2 – Keywords

Stage 2 is defining the keywords you want to rank for in Google. This is not stage 1 as I find it influences branding decisions too much. Instead you want to find the most profitable keywords for your business. This is very easy to do using the Keyword planner. Find the most profitable keywords directly related to your business and others that are more specific (these are called secondary or long tail keywords.)

In our example our primary keywords would be things like “buy shoes online” “online shoe store”. Our secondary keywords would be specific brands or styles that the shoe store stocked. For example “Nike Running Trainers For Men” Or “Women’s high heel shoes”. These are a lot easier to rank than the more generic primary terms. But the larger terms will have a higher search volume and hence once you are ranked you will be earning a lot more.

Step 3 – Build the site focused on UX and SEO

This is by far the most difficult step of an entire business. The good thing is, you only have to do this once if you do it correctly. This is where I recommend spending the most money. If it costs you £20k to set-up a site that has perfect on-page optimisation, converts well and has good User experience then it might seem like a big cost today but in the future it will pay for itself 1000 times over through insanely efficient ranking and conversions.

Personally I like to start with keywords and then move into images and add user experience at the end. Then and as a final step I add key design elements. The majority of business owners and design agencies do this in the complete other way. They will start with design, move into SEO and finish with CRO. This all leads to a very low ranking, low converting (but good looking) website. And as we discovered at the start of the article, we want all key elements in place, not just one or 2. That’s a quick way to waste a lot of time and money.

Step 4 – Off Page Optimisation

Step 4 is generating backlinks, building citations, press releases, link outreach and essentially all elements that are involved in an offpage or off-site optimisation campaign. In our example if we built the best looking, highest converting shoe store in the world, we would rank precisely 2,341 in Google for “shoe store” because we have no authority at all. We have zero backlinks, and no one is visiting our site. As a result we need to do some off-page optimisation. The most important element of this is backlink generation, but this post is already long enough so instead of posting more content on this just research how to generate links or get in touch with us.

Step 5 – Social, PPC, Market That MF

Social media marketing, pay per click and any other form of marketing is step 5. This is where you go all in on your business. This is the start of the 12 hour days, 7 days a week for a year. This is where you start the grind…. Or the hustle as others call it. These 80 hour weeks is what makes or breaks your business. Most of the time people don’t have the discipline to do this (or the knowledge), this is also where you need to spend money. Spend money to advertise, hire a PPC agency if you need to, an SEO agency that’s amazing if you need to and get in front of all your potential customers too.

Step 6 – Automate and scale

Once you have your first 100 sales a day its time to scale. Hire employees or VA’s and scale and automate the business. If you do not know how to do this, then read up on it. Build your business so that it could work without you.

Conclusion

Step 1-4 should take less than 6 months. If it starts to take longer than this then you have a serious over-complicating things issue. When you over-complicate you kill your business. Literally you are stopping it from growing before its even born. Do not do this. Instead launch it as soon as you have an MVP (minimum viable product) and tweak along the way if needs be. Step 5 is where most people fall, this is also why 90% of business fail in 5 years, they do not complete stage 5. And if you do, then move onto stage 6 as soon as you possibly can. This is when you can go from £100k a year to £100m a year. Thanks for reading.

I believe SEO is the root to thriving an online business. It?s the reason I learnt this skill inside out over the past decade, it?s also the reason I can work from anywhere in the world. It?s the single most effective marketing method in my personal opinion. You are giving people exactly what they are searching for, when they need it. What more could you want.

Web Design – Who Cares About It?

But,

If you have a good SEO campaign in place where you rank for a number of profitable keywords, but you find you aren?t converting a lot of customers then you might have a design issue.

Let?s take this from the other way, let?s say you have a great looking website, you?re site is designed by the best agency in town and you have a branding campaign that Nike would be proud of. It?s all going well until you don?t get any customers. What do you do? You might try social media marketing, PPC and eventually you will likely half try SEO.

The problem lies (in both situation) SEO and Web design were treated differently. They weren?t built to be interchangeable.

They are the same thing and that?s something people do not remember.

Build a website that looks great & RANKS in Google. If you can do that then you will be successful in generating revenue online. Whether that be through generating leads for a business or making sales in an online store.

Below is the process I wanted to talk about that I personally believe results in building a successful business of any type. If you can take these out and refine it to any business you will be profitable.

Stage 1 ? Concept & Branding

Always start with the concept.

If anyone knows me then they know I really hate ideas. Ideas are worthless. No one cares if you have a great idea. The best business men and women in the world probably didn?t start with the best idea in the world. They took action on their idea and executed that idea well. That?s the difference.

Nevertheless you have to start with your concept. This can be as simple or complicated as you like, but of course simple businesses are best. Let?s use the example of an online store that sells shoes. The idea is simple, we want to sell shoes online.

Branding is semi-important. Again this is something that people overcomplicate to the hills. If you cannot build a brand then you cannot have a business. BUT this brand doesn?t need to cost you ?50k to build to be good. Some of the best brand designs in the world have started on fiverr. There are hundreds of multi million pound businesses that still have logos they purchased from fiverr. So get something up. If you can afford to hire a branding agency then do so, but please hire a good one, otherwise you can end up paying ?10k for a $5 logo.

Stage 2 ? Keywords

Stage 2 is defining the keywords you want to rank for in Google. This is not stage 1 as I find it influences branding decisions too much. Instead you want to find the most profitable keywords for your business. This is very easy to do using the Keyword planner. Find the most profitable keywords directly related to your business and others that are more specific (these are called secondary or long tail keywords.)

In our example our primary keywords would be things like ?buy shoes online? ?online shoe store?. Our secondary keywords would be specific brands or styles that the shoe store stocked. For example ?Nike Running Trainers For Men? Or ?Women?s high heel shoes?. These are a lot easier to rank than the more generic primary terms. But the larger terms will have a higher search volume and hence once you are ranked you will be earning a lot more.

Step 3 ? Build the site focused on UX and SEO

This is by far the most difficult step of an entire business. The good thing is, you only have to do this once if you do it correctly. This is where I recommend spending the most money. If it costs you ?20k to set-up a site that has perfect on-page optimisation, converts well and has good User experience then it might seem like a big cost today but in the future it will pay for itself 1000 times over through insanely efficient ranking and conversions.

Personally I like to start with keywords and then move into images and add user experience at the end. Then and as a final step I add key design elements. The majority of business owners and design agencies do this in the complete other way. They will start with design, move into SEO and finish with CRO. This all leads to a very low ranking, low converting (but good looking) website. And as we discovered at the start of the article, we want all key elements in place, not just one or 2. That?s a quick way to waste a lot of time and money.

Step 4 ? Off Page Optimisation

Step 4 is generating backlinks, building citations, press releases, link outreach and essentially all elements that are involved in an offpage or off-site optimisation campaign. In our example if we built the best looking, highest converting shoe store in the world, we would rank precisely 2,341 in Google for ?shoe store? because we have no authority at all. We have zero backlinks, and no one is visiting our site. As a result we need to do some off-page optimisation. The most important element of this is backlink generation, but this post is already long enough so instead of posting more content on this just research how to generate links or get in touch with us.

Step 5 ? Social, PPC, Market That MF

Social media marketing, pay per click and any other form of marketing is step 5. This is where you go all in on your business. This is the start of the 12 hour days, 7 days a week for a year. This is where you start the grind?. Or the hustle as others call it. These 80 hour weeks is what makes or breaks your business. Most of the time people don?t have the discipline to do this (or the knowledge), this is also where you need to spend money. Spend money to advertise, hire a PPC agency if you need to, an SEO agency that?s amazing if you need to and get in front of all your potential customers too.

Step 6 ? Automate and scale

Once you have your first 100 sales a day its time to scale. Hire employees or VA?s and scale and automate the business. If you do not know how to do this, then read up on it. Build your business so that it could work without you.

Conclusion

Step 1-4 should take less than 6 months. If it starts to take longer than this then you have a serious over-complicating things issue. When you over-complicate you kill your business. Literally you are stopping it from growing before its even born. Do not do this. Instead launch it as soon as you have an MVP (minimum viable product) and tweak along the way if needs be. Step 5 is where most people fall, this is also why 90% of business fail in 5 years, they do not complete stage 5. And if you do, then move onto stage 6 as soon as you possibly can. This is when you can go from ?100k a year to ?100m a year. Thanks for reading.

Conversion rate optimisation or CRO for short is the process of converting the content and code of webpage in such a way that the overall visitor to customer ratio or percentage is increased or improved. This is something that the majority of small business owners do not look into. This is partly due to lack of knowledge but also generally because the web design agency they worked with does not actually implement correct CRO practices onto the website.

CRO is something that you should only have to do once for each webpage. Similar to SEO in that way, on-page optimisation should only be completed once for each webpage, if your website changes dramatically then you might need to change inner pages that target keywords you no longer want to rank for and replace them for more relevant profitable keywords. But unless you take the business in another direction you should only be looking to do both on-page optimisation and CRO once per webpage. If you do this correctly the knock on effect will be dramatic. Today I?m going to talk about how to implement CRO and web design correctly. This article is targeted at people getting websites created currently and design agencies building sites.

Web development is no longer just how a site looks when it is complete. You have to look at it from the point of potential client or customer. If you have 1,000 visitors to your site a month and convert 1% of those for ?1,000 then you generate exactly ?10,000 per month (1% of 1000 = 10 x ?1000).

So the ONLY question becomes how can we increase this ?10,000 per month figure. That?s the ONLY question. Don?t over-complicate this. So what are our options (there are 3 of them):

1.) We can charge more than ?1,000 per customer. If this is an option then you should seriously look into it. Can we provide more value and charge more or can we increase our lifetime value of a client? If so then go for this too, upsell in the future and increase this value if possible.

2.) We can increase the amount of traffic or potential leads we get into the site. This is the most common way people try to earn more money. If we generate ?10,000 per 1000 visitors then lets get to 2,000 and we get to ?20k. Of course this assumes that the quality of the traffic is the same. Remember there is no point in promoting to people that potentially aren?t going to convert.

3.) The final method is to convert more visitors into customers. For example if we can increase our conversion rate from 1% to 2% then we double our entire revenue. This is the easiest way to double income, yet it is one many people do not implement or even look into (myself included). Below I?m going to run through a few of the basics but if you want to get indepth in this you can check out a couple of really good CRO blogs, I like ConversionXL, Kissmetrics and Unbounce but feel free to go wherever you see the most value.

Start by identifying who your target audience are. Remember designing a site is not how the client or how you personally think it should look. You want to design it to how your potential customers want to see it. For example, if you have a blog about football and you are an Arsenal fan you might want to put a lot of Arsenal information on this. But remember anyone who supports any other team will instantly be turned off if they see this being the case. Remember to stay generic but SPECIFIC. For example do not brand for one team, but be specific to football (don?t branch into other sports)

Headings and titles ? These are the first things people see whether they find your site through social or search (or even if they go direct) as a result you want to build these headings to convert visitors to read the next 2 sentences. If these titles are dry and boring people won?t want to carry on reading. Again if you want to know how to craft titles and headings well, then follow what the CRO experts say.

The first 2 sentences ? This is another huge one, if someone starts reading your post but then gets bored after 2 sentences or thinks this isn?t what they were looking for, they will bounce to another website, this is what we want to avoid of course.

Multimedia ? Add a ton of images and video into your post. These can be simple images, the ones that are best. You can also use images to help describe difficult processes. This is a technique that once you are conscious of you will see all experts using.

Style of post ? People hate reading blocks of text, especially if it is not split up into sections. For example, if we made this a wall of text the retention rate for the post would probably go down to zero. Make sure your posts are easy to read. I personally like articles that are written how people talk. For example lots of short sharp sentences. Don?t overuse the same terms either, use LSI keywords and generally make the post easy to understand.

There?s a good infographic below which gives you a nice checklist of things to remember when doing an CRO campaign:

Conversion rate optimisation or CRO for short is the process of converting the content and code of webpage in such a way that the overall visitor to customer ratio or percentage is increased or improved. This is something that the majority of small business owners do not look into. This is partly due to lack of knowledge but also generally because the web design agency they worked with does not actually implement correct CRO practices onto the website.

CRO is something that you should only have to do once for each webpage. Similar to SEO in that way, on-page optimisation should only be completed once for each webpage, if your website changes dramatically then you might need to change inner pages that target keywords you no longer want to rank for and replace them for more relevant profitable keywords. But unless you take the business in another direction you should only be looking to do both on-page optimisation and CRO once per webpage. If you do this correctly the knock on effect will be dramatic. Today I’m going to talk about how to implement CRO and web design correctly. This article is targeted at people getting websites created currently and design agencies building sites.

Web development is no longer just how a site looks when it is complete. You have to look at it from the point of potential client or customer. If you have 1,000 visitors to your site a month and convert 1% of those for £1,000 then you generate exactly £10,000 per month (1% of 1000 = 10 x £1000).

So the ONLY question becomes how can we increase this £10,000 per month figure. That’s the ONLY question. Don’t over-complicate this. So what are our options (there are 3 of them):

1.) We can charge more than £1,000 per customer. If this is an option then you should seriously look into it. Can we provide more value and charge more or can we increase our lifetime value of a client? If so then go for this too, upsell in the future and increase this value if possible.

2.) We can increase the amount of traffic or potential leads we get into the site. This is the most common way people try to earn more money. If we generate £10,000 per 1000 visitors then lets get to 2,000 and we get to £20k. Of course this assumes that the quality of the traffic is the same. Remember there is no point in promoting to people that potentially aren’t going to convert.

3.) The final method is to convert more visitors into customers. For example if we can increase our conversion rate from 1% to 2% then we double our entire revenue. This is the easiest way to double income, yet it is one many people do not implement or even look into (myself included). Below I’m going to run through a few of the basics but if you want to get indepth in this you can check out a couple of really good CRO blogs, I like ConversionXL, Kissmetrics and Unbounce but feel free to go wherever you see the most value.

Start by identifying who your target audience are. Remember designing a site is not how the client or how you personally think it should look. You want to design it to how your potential customers want to see it. For example, if you have a blog about football and you are an Arsenal fan you might want to put a lot of Arsenal information on this. But remember anyone who supports any other team will instantly be turned off if they see this being the case. Remember to stay generic but SPECIFIC. For example do not brand for one team, but be specific to football (don’t branch into other sports)

Headings and titles – These are the first things people see whether they find your site through social or search (or even if they go direct) as a result you want to build these headings to convert visitors to read the next 2 sentences. If these titles are dry and boring people won’t want to carry on reading. Again if you want to know how to craft titles and headings well, then follow what the CRO experts say.

The first 2 sentences – This is another huge one, if someone starts reading your post but then gets bored after 2 sentences or thinks this isn’t what they were looking for, they will bounce to another website, this is what we want to avoid of course.

Multimedia – Add a ton of images and video into your post. These can be simple images, the ones that are best. You can also use images to help describe difficult processes. This is a technique that once you are conscious of you will see all experts using.

Style of post – People hate reading blocks of text, especially if it is not split up into sections. For example, if we made this a wall of text the retention rate for the post would probably go down to zero. Make sure your posts are easy to read. I personally like articles that are written how people talk. For example lots of short sharp sentences. Don’t overuse the same terms either, use LSI keywords and generally make the post easy to understand.

There’s a good infographic below which gives you a nice checklist of things to remember when doing an CRO campaign:

Over the coming weeks and months we will be talking more about the design of a website rather than the SEO or marketing of that site. This is mainly because this is where the problems begin. People start by making mistakes with their website and then they try to resolve these mistakes with the SEO and digital marketing of this website. Problem is, the mistakes end up costing the business a hell of a lot of money in the long run, and the issues are so simple to resolve.

Instead it?s time to resolve some myths about website design and why you should be building for the search engines at the same time as you are building for users and user experience. This is something we personally do, but very few designers do. As a result the site looks really nice, but functions terribly and from a UX and search engine point of view its just a nightmare. As a result you lose customers and clients, the cardinal sin of online marketing as a whole. This is also more common in old school website designers.

If we think back to 2005, site?s all looked pretty much the same, 95% of people looked on desktops or laptops first (mobile was just starting out with I.M.) and generally it was easier to build an OK looking website. So people started to copy everyone. You could get an agency creating a website for ?10,000 that would look very similar to a site that cost ?500 by a web design consultant. But things ticked along. Fast forward a decade and a bit and you have every Tom, Dick and Harry building website for ?100 and agencies charging ?20,000+ for what LOOKS like the same thing, I still get the tons of emails offering design and seo for ?100, as most likely do you?. But anyway that?s a rant for another day.

Today we are going to talk about what I believe to be the number 1 issues with older website designers. They are just creating for the sake of creating. For example if you have a website, you want it to look good?. But from WHOSE PERSPECTIVE.

This is the question you have to ask yourself before you even write the first bit of code or install wordpress.

Don?t build your website for yourself. Build it for your customers.

This is the number 1 designer issue.

?The client is always right!? ? That?s a phrase I know designers hate, as do I, but the point becomes even LESS valid when you think about tiny tweaks and changes to a site. When you ask a designer (or if you are a designer who has been asked by a client) you need to ask the key question: Will this generate your business more customers. Guess what? Slight colour changes and font sizes don?t do this. Providing extreme value does.

As most people know we are big advocates of the educated sell, you can see everything we do for clients right here, that?s because we have nothing to hide. When you are a designer or if you are a client in conversations with designers then ensure the designer is giving you the relevant advice but also give them space to do what they are meant to be doing.

A close #2 in the top designer mistakes of all time category is going to be building the sites as if it were a poster for your business. I?m not sure where this idea came from but it?s one that I think needs to be removed from the world of digital marketing and design in general. Your website should not look like a frecking leaflet. If you want that then guess what, get a leaflet designer! Instead you want to build your site as if it were a proposal. A proposal to a prospect or a lead that you want to close. Any potential customers can click around and should be seeing awesome amounts of value all over the site. If they can?t see this then I think you need to add more content and value on the website.

Remember.

SEO Aligned with Design.

If you ?try to do SEO after? then you are going to run into so many problems. One of the most common issues we see is websites that are designed from the point of view of 1.) The client and 2.) To look pretty.

Stop designing sites to look pretty.

Do you want someone to visit your site and say ?this looks pretty?? and then click off the site and never come back again.

Or would you rather someone click on the site and say ?this looks like a good business to work with.? It?s an obvious question of course but that?s what you should think of first in the design aspect. Think of this from the point of a GOOD BUSINESS. Provide insane amounts of value THROUGH smart design and you will be on a very powerful and profitable journey to generating more clients.

Conclusion

Don?t listen to what the client wants. They rarely know what they need and if they start with words like ?we think this would look good? and ?I like the look of? then stop them right there and ask them if they want a profitable business or an ego website (You want might to use different phrasing, client relations and all that.) If they start with ?we have tested? or ?during our market research we found? then listen VERY closely to what they are about to say. They are either incredibly good at lying or have done something that 99% of potential start-ups do not do and that?s proper market research.

And build the site with SEO in mind, don?t try to implement it after.