Search Engine Optimisation - SEO

 
Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO as it is known in the industry, is the process of tailoring ones site to be easily readable by the search engines. Over the years, the meaning of the term has expanded to also cover other aspects of search engine promotion such as link building.
 
Contrary to popular opinion, Search Engine Optimisation is actually a very simple, if time consuming process. However, there are several major pitfalls which must be avoided to ensure success. 'Illegal' techniques, such as stuffing your pages with keywords or hiding them may yield short term results, but the search engines will penalise your site when they find out (and they will), and may even remove you from their index altogether.
 
The build of your site is also very important. If your website is poorly coded, or was built a long time ago, the search engines may encounter problems trying to index some or all of your valuable pages. If your website was built solely in Flash, then it's likely that none of your pages will be visible.
 
Needless to say, if your website was built by Durham Productions, then it is already 'search engine friendly', and we can move straight to the promotion stage.
 
Of course, search engine results are not everything and will not automatically generate business. Your website needs to be able to channel your new visitors into performing the required action, be it contacting you or buying something.
 

Pay Per Click - PPC

The techniques described above are known as 'organic' search engine results. This is where your results are displayed in the main body of the search engine, and obtaining a high rank involves many factors, including optimisation of your site and building incoming links.
 
The major search engines also provide what is known as 'Pay Per Click' marketing. This enables you to 'bid' against other advertisers for a search engine position above or beside the main body. The major advantage of this type of advertising is that it yields immediate results, and can be turned on and off as and when. It is extremely useful as a stop-gap whilst you are building organic results, generating a small number of enquiries, or to attract a set number of a certain demographic to your site for market research purposes. The main disadvantage is cost, and it's also worthy of note that the click-through rate of a PPC campaign is a lot lower than that of organic search engine results.
 
We are able to advise on when PPC is advisable, and take control of your campaign, or provide guidance in a consultancy capacity.