Search Engine what now? Nick Golding sheds some light on the dark arts.
Google is a battleground. Once it was fiercely competitive online retailers who fought bloody battles over certain keywords and phrases that, when searched, could lead to significant lifts in sales and revenue for the company that comes up at the top of the list of a million websites.
What's this got to do with marketing for training businesses? As a growing number of training companies invest in more sophisticated websites they are becoming more concerned with how many people are actually visiting that site.
Moreover, an increasing number of trainers want to know 'who' is visiting their site, and perhaps more importantly, 'where' those visitors have come from. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is basically the process to optimise your website to appear on search engines like Google and Yahoo.
"As competition within the training industry, and the popularity of search engines like Google, grows – so too does the need to optimise your website."
To put this into some perspective, let's say you run a sales training company in Manchester. You know that 'sales training in Manchester' is searched on Google 1,000 times per week but you never receive any orders through your website. There's a good chance that's because your site doesn't appear on the first page (or if it does, not near the top) of Google when that exact phrase is searched.
In the past this wouldn't be too much of a problem. Generally your business works off recommendations and if someone wants to find out more about the training you offer they just type in your web address into the internet. However, as competition within the training industry, and the popularity of search engines like Google, grows – so too does the need to optimise your website.
So, here are four questions that training companies should ask at the start of an SEO strategy launch...
Which keywords will work for my training business?
There is some pretty clever software out there that gives you a decent idea of how much traffic different keywords get. So, if you want to know what 'leadership training in London' receives per month, you can punch it into the software and it will tell you.
One free tool is provided by Google, type in 'Google Adwords Tool' into (where else?) Google, and the site will turn up at the top. Type in the keywords or phrases that you would like to be found with, and then try to identify the ones that have good traffic numbers, but low competition.
Is there anything I can be doing NOW to improve my search engine performance?
Yes. Content is key to an effective SEO strategy so start writing today. Google loves good and fresh content so you should be adding new blogs and articles (with your chosen keywords and phrases included) onto your site all the time. Start with two or three blogs per week – read my article on alleviating writer's block here to get ideas on topics and themes for your content.
One useful tip is to anchor text your keywords. So, if your key phrase is 'Management Training', hyperlink the phrase and link back to your website page where you sell or expand on management training.
How can I check to see if my traffic is improving?
I warn you, Google Analytics is addictive. Everyone likes to see feedback on the work that they've been doing, and when it comes to digital marketing it's easy to measure and track the success of a strategy.
Ask your web designer to set up Google Analytics for your website, then you'll be able to see which keywords and phrases are sending traffic to your site. Google Analytics tracks which key phrases are being used to find your website – don't miss this out especially because it's free to use.
"Driving quality traffic to your website will soon get Google recognising the importance of the site and that it needs to be further towards the top when 'your' search terms is typed."
Will using social media make a difference?
As with anything to do with marketing, the likes of Twitter and Facebook aren't a silver bullet for success – but they can form part of the strategy. Let's say you've written some great content for your website on the different ways companies can develop their leaders of tomorrow.
Instead of waiting for that copy to be found, read and consumed by your target market, you can now cast a net out on the internet. Once the content is ready (and optimised with hyperlinks), tell your community by sending it out on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Driving quality traffic to your website will soon get Google recognising the importance of the site and that it needs to be further towards the top when 'your' search terms is typed.
The truth is online booking systems within sophisticated and 'sexy' training websites mean that it is more important than ever for businesses to focus on attracting a slice of the learning and development web traffic.
After all, what's the point in having a slick website with great training on offer, if no-one ever sees it?
Nick Golding is a director at marketing agency for the training and development industry, GoldSand Digital
