But you wouldn’t know any of that from her website, because she used generic content.

Content is the most important component of a modern website, hands-down. With most every site running on the same handful of platforms, using similar responsive templates, and conforming to accepted usability norms, content is the single point of difference you have.

And it’s also the most under-valued. Most organisations grossly under-spend on content, and this leaves a major opportunity on the table.

This is most easily demonstrated in the retail industry, where online stores and drop-shipping have normalised the reuse of manufacturer-issued product descriptions. Search for any readily available product and you will usually see the same copy repeated over and over across multiple websites. It should be evident that this ignores all business advice about points of difference, but what is even more damaging is the search engine penalties that accrue when one product after another is showcased with identical text and images. Compounding the problem, product lines often share a base description across the line, providing the appearance of in-site duplication.

If the text is unchanged from the manufacturer, search engines can’t promote your site over others using the exact same copy (not to mention the manufacturer themselves) and your search ranking becomes guesswork.

More importantly, you’re not serving your customers if you’re not taking this opportunity to give them considered value.

How do I fix this?

You can do this yourself, but it still requires an investment. Pay a copywriter, pay your sales staff, or pay us— but however you do it, pay someone to write copy that is unique and reflects the way you would sell the product to a physical customer.

We often refer to this as “low hanging fruit,” but it’s even more fundamental than that. Without unique copy, you do not have a website that serves your organisation; you have a placeholder.

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Long tail keywords (LTKs) include the phrases that you and your clients use regularly, that uniquely identify your business. In a search-driven world, they are important for three reasons:

1. Disambiguation
2. Low search volume
3. Motivated searchers

Let’s use a car sales yard as an example. More specifically, let’s make this a second-hand vehicle dealership, specialising in MG products in the Hawkes Bay region. *

If a user searches Google for “car,” they return over 12 billion results. Our dealer’s website should be among them, but we have no idea what the user’s intent was, because “car” covers an enormous swathe of information and industry.

A search for “used MG dealer in Napier” returns some 432,000 results, which is still a large number, but now we can infer a little more intent on the part of the user—and so does Google. To return to our three drivers:

This latter search is unambiguous: the user is looking for a dealership who specialises in second-hand MG vehicles in Napier.

The search volume is lower, which means there is less competition. While “car” is a term every car dealer in the world would like to rank for, there are only so many second-hand dealers specialising in MGs in the Hawkes Bay (three, as it turns out).

For our dealership, a single search result for “used MG dealer in Napier” is far more valuable than thousands of less focused searches for “car”. Specific searches are more motivated searches. And motivated searches are far more likely to generate leads.

So what do you do about it?

Make sure your site reflects your subject matter expertise.

Avoid generic descriptions or manufacturer supplied copy, and make sure the language you use on your website is complementary to the language you would use in person or on the phone.

People making relevant searches are already looking to give you value. Meet them halfway by considering your long tail keywords.

Use your data! Keep an eye on your analytics and search console, and use them to get a handle on the types of long tail content that are working for you.

Pay attention to divergences between your language and your customers’ — if every second client uses the wrong word for a product type, it’s worth unpacking that (gently) in your copy, which will incidentally and authentically capture those searches.

The next level: A professional site audit will analyse your copy and ensure it offers maximum value to your customers (which is the primary reason for monitoring your long-tail keywords), and correctly guide more motivated eyes to your site by improving your search presence.

LTKs are not about gaming the system: they are an accessible metric that can help you focus and improve your content online.

* This example was completely random, and we did not expect to find not one but three dealerships matching that description!

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Search used to be an important consideration. Search engines, monetisation of the internet, and smart devices have increasingly made it the most vital component of your online presence. There are many reasons for this, but one major user experience convention illustrates the depth of the change: the convergence of the address bar and the search bar.

Across the sites we have managed, the trends are clear and consistent with global figures: users are more likely to search for an organisation by name or by product than to type in a domain name. Search is the single biggest source of traffic to an average website, by a large margin. A 2016 study by Wolfgang Digital found an average of 43% of site visits come from search, compared to 17% direct visits—and the ratio of search to direct has been trending upwards.

Search should be your number one lead generator, because it is how the average user now finds products, services, and communities, and because devices are increasingly designed to enforce this trend. Phone, tablet, and computer assistants, browsers, and operating system themselves, not to mention smart home hubs, all rely on and prioritise search technology.

Investing in search is about making sure you use data and knowledge of your industry and clients to represent yourselves accurately online, and doing so in a way that appropriately maximises your search visibility. In short, more prospective clients will see you if you invest in search—and if you do it well, these will be increasingly motivated viewers.

Learn more about what’s involved in improving your search presence, see our services and charges, or contact us for an obligation-free discussion of your needs.

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As we’ve stepped back from active web development, we’ve discovered a growing demand for help with search visibility, which we’re more than happy to provide.

You can read about our full process and peer behind the acronyms here, but for those who already know what they need our general services follow:

• Website, copy and social media audits, from $700 + GST
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), using a customer-centric approach that applies white-hat principles to making sure your site accurately and fully represents your organisation and delivers value to your clients. Hourly or project rates apply.
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) using Google Ads (formerly AdWords) to extend your reach and generate more motivated leads. Hourly or project rates apply.
• Full search overhaul: Our full search service examines your objectives, processes, customer demographics and marketing channels before working with you on short, medium, and long-term improvements for your search visibility and content quality. From $2,400 + GST

We are happy to offer an obligation-free initial consultation, which includes general recommendations and allows us to deliver a fixed-price quotation for the project.

Photo by Kaboompics.com  from Pexels

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We specialise in stepping past the jargon and helping you to focus on what matters for your organisation.

Search optimisation and marketing is often presented as a complex and evolving field, but we prefer a first-principles approach we call customer-centric optimisation, making use of your existing assets to obtain the key benefits of all those acronyms without chasing diminishing returns.

Still sound a bit jargony?

Here’s how it works:

1. We listen to you: You are the expert in your organisation. We ask about your customers, your products and services, your values and your objectives.
2. We look at your existing channels: We audit your website and social media content and technical capabilities, using our expertise in Search, Web Development, User Interaction, Writing and Editing. We make recommendations to improve each of these.
3. We map your processes: We examine your workflow and data for low-hanging opportunities to improve your search visibility and connect more easily and consistently with customers.
4. We fix what’s broken: We repair (or help your vendors repair) any technical problems with your channels, edit your revised content, and configure any relevant channels and reporting systems that are missing. We also make recommendations about relevant third-party services and any opportunities to reduce duplication and cost.
5. We provide a framework: We give you a set of clear steps that you can prioritise going forward on your own terms, without disrupting your existing mission, and ways to measure your success. This might include some paid search marketing, depending on your sector and objectives.

For those rare creatures who prefer the TLAs, we can do those too:

1. SEO: Search Engine Optimisation is about understanding the ways Search Engines like Google and Baidu organically find and interpret website structures, content, and relationships. Pure SEO is an ever-changing field, but the core principles remain the same. SEO, done properly, is not about chasing the latest algorithm announcements for quick boosts in visibility, or trying to game the system (these are both detrimental and costly, not to mention unethical) but about making sure your content is well-structured, represents your UVP (unique value proposition) fully, and serves your clients.
2. SEM: Search Engine Marketing is the apparatus of inorganic, i.e. paid and directed, search presence. Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is the largest example of this, and provides the page-topping advertised results when a Google search is performed, indicated by the subtle “Ad” box beside the url.
3. PPC: Pay Per Click is a common method by which SEM services charge their clients. An automatic auction system is often used, where bids are placed for relevant keywords, apportioning ad placement between competitors based on demand and daily budget.
4. LTK: Long Tail Keywords are the highly specific phrases consisting of multiple words and unique to your organisation, product, or sector. Authentic, original content that represents your UVP will naturally contain LTKs. SEM, when used, should take advantage of these to capture the lower volume but highly motivated clients who are searching with such specific strings. When factored into SEM, LTKs provide better lead generation with a lower cost per click (CPC) because increasingly specific phrases encounter less competition.

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However, this is not about generating monotony, but consistency.

Imagine your organisation as a single human being. With one voice, that person can tell a joke, deliver a eulogy and whisper a secret. They can sound sombre, whimsical or profound as the occasion demands, while still sounding like themselves.

This is the primary challenge of business communication, and it’s something we do unconsciously in any other context!

So start by simplifying. Examine those values your organisation holds dear and decide how they influence your tone.

The closer your voice is aligned with your vision, the more authentic and effective it will be.

Consider three prominent vision statements:

“To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” The company often appends founder Bill Bowerman’s statement, “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” – Nike

“To provide the tools and knowledge to allow entrepreneurs to compete successfully in the Fast Food industry worldwide, by consistently offering value to consumers through providing great tasting food that is good for them and made the way they want it.” – Subway

“Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” – Google

Take a look at any material from those organisations, and you should see the framework of that vision behind it, helping them to develop and maintain a consistent tone, and thereby a recognisable identity. Nike’s tone is imperative and aspirational – “Just do it.” Subway’s messaging (ironically, it might be argued) emphasises the local nature of their franchises and is similarly commanding – “Eat Fresh.” Google is adept at creating simple representations of data – “accessible and useful” – and keeping the tone (ostensibly) as neutral as possible.

Try to describe the current tone of your organisation in a single sentence.

Then invite others in…

This isn’t only about you: conversation requires multiple voices.

• Who are your clients, your stakeholders and your staff?
• How will your tone resonate with them?
• How can it include (or exclude) them?

When in doubt, ask for feedback. Offer a survey, read your reviews, and be open to improvement. A human voice, wonderful though it might be, can still benefit from singing or speech lessons, and listening to your audience is the easiest way to recognise where you are and start growing.

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Your website is likely to be lonely, with few visitors and fewer leads. You are relying on people specifically interested in your business, and the odd lucky search or referral.

People might be able to find you, if they try, but your site is not going to find them.

You need to reach out.

Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. SnapChat. Tumblr. Medium. LinkedIn. Instagram. These services are a seamless part of people’s lives. Search is still more important, and the way you shape your online presence determines your visibility.

You need to go to where the people are. Show them how amazing your service, your cause, your idea is, on their own turf and terms, and offer them value.

This process is called a search and social strategy, and it can make your website truly serve your organisation.

Who am I?

Every organisation begins with a purpose, a passion. We call this reason for being a “vision,” inscribe it on the company letterhead… and then generally forget about it.

Worse, we tend to see the vision as a static ideal, unchanging as the organisation evolves.

Before you can consider any meaningful strategy, you need to have a firm idea of your identity; and that begins with your vision. Dust it off, update it if necessary, and give it a working purpose. It should be a tool, used to measure every action your organisation takes. Your vision should underpin every proposal and inform every decision, bringing clarity, consistency and integrity to your organisation.

Why does it matter?

You just want to promote your work. Why bother with this vision stuff?

The social space is dynamic, conversational and interactive. In human terms, it’s relational, and relationships start with identity. People need to know who they are connecting with, and your vision can help you find an authentic voice.

Consider the manner in which you you talk to your clients, staff and stakeholders. How are these voices consistent with your vision?

Your voice in the social space sets expectations and boundaries in just the same way, and should mirror the desired in-person experience.

Take-home points

1. Take some time to reflect on your vision, or to define it if it’s implicit.
2. Outline how this vision has shaped (or should shape) your organisation’s identity.
3. Think about how you see your organisation, and how you want others to see it.

You’ve now outlined who you are, and who you want to be online. In our next article, we’ll consider the way you want to speak.

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Hosted solutions such as application frameworks mean that organisations can now obtain a professional, fully hosted website for a low monthly fee. Better yet, they can do so without the capital outlay of a conventional website. Such platforms are not new, but are now mature enough to match or even surpass custom solutions. Automatic updates, 24/7 support and the additional benefits of economies of scale make such solutions the obvious choice in 2016.

For these reasons, we now recommend that our clients consider Square Space, Word Press and similar services when planning a new website. We are still happy to guide you through the process if necessary, and will continue to support clients with their existing sites, but we will no longer be developing stand-alone websites.

Getting your organisation “on message”

Ravlich Consulting was founded with a passion for communication as a driver of positive change. We are re-embracing that ideal by shifting focus back from the nuts and bolts of web development and IT support, to the broader communication structures in which they sit.

While your website provides a necessary online presence, it is a passive, inward facing resource. People must search for it, meaning they are already looking for your business or cause before they visit the site.

A communication strategy, in contrast, is active, adaptive and interactive. In the social space, it is outward facing, and goes to where people already are. It reaches new prospective clients or members, boosts search rankings, and ultimately generates leads.

If you want to invite new markets into your organisation, then you need a clear, systematic communication strategy. You also need the means to measure and to grow it.

We can provide staff training, seminars and documentation on the various channels and components of communication strategy, both internal and external.

We can work with you to define and quantify your communication needs, then help your staff to begin delivering immediate value to prospective clients.

We can work with your in-house experts to provide quality, search-optimised content that will get your message seen.

We can help you to monitor and rapidly evolve your communication strategy, until it is a living and vital part of your organisation.

We can manage and deliver specific communication projects, ranging from internal policy and deployment to client resources.

It’s an exciting time in the communications sector, and we look forward to helping you deliver authentic, effective messages.

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