Issue 15: VIDEO - Answering Your Questions
Sharing our experiences of what works and why it works.
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New Q&A Video Format
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Transcript
Andrew: Hi, everyone. Today we were talking with owner and founder of Big Pond Digital, Ari Pournaras. As any great marketer knows, the client or customer is the hero of the story. With that in mind, I will be asking questions on your behalf. And Ari is kindly agreed to share his knowledge and insights. Let's begin. As you can see here from the slide: how to get more leads and more sales growth for your business. Ok Ari, so we'll kick off the first question. What do successful people get right to make digital marketing and SEO work for their business?
Ari: So I think one of the things that the clients that we've had for a few years got right is that they actually invest time in the first place and actually learn more about digital marketing, how it works, how long it takes. And so, yeah, I think it's not like anything... it's not really a quick thing, like a quick turnaround that's going to produce, you know, leads within the first month or week for sales. And I think that the main thing is to have really good communication between the agency and the people doing the work and the actual business owner. And for business owners, you need to be invested in actually learning how we work. And the more you understand about SEO, PPC or whatever channel it is you actually using to get sales or leads.
Andrew: Right. So it's really about collaboration.
Ari: Exactly. Yeah.
Andrew: Ok. Moving on to the next question, so a big pond, you often use the phrase every search is local. Now, what do you mean by that, particularly in a mobile first world?
Ari: Yeah, so basically that phrase applies to everyone, right? So for example, if you're looking for a dentist or a lawyer near you, that search is going to be local, right? But business may be a small business around the corner that, you know, provides local services or you might be looking for in a supermarket, maybe. And in that case, that business is, you know, a massive brand with a lot of stores and all around the country. And since what we mean by that is that search is becoming more and more localised, and it doesn't only apply to small firms, it actually applies to everyone in every business.
Andrew: Yeah, so in other words, it's just what happens to be in your local area. Ok, that makes sense. So can you give a few examples of businesses you've helped using our SEO to generate more leads and sales? And can you maybe give people an idea of like, how long does SEO take to work?
Ari: Yeah, I'm going to give the classic. I guess you answer here. It depends.
Andrew: And we're going to elaborate on that...
Ari: Going to elaborate on that. So if it's an established business with existing traffic, you know, existing rankings, you could actually go in and make a few tweaks and produce results within a month. But that's best case scenario. In most cases, it takes time. And because it takes time for you to actually measure where the business is at the moment, how it compares to all the other businesses that are maybe ranking above it. And then you need to bridge the gap between the business that you're working for and the competition.
Andrew: Right? So if there's like another legal firm that I'm trying to rank ahead of, or a dentist or some other type of business that you know, it's about, I guess what getting into the top Google results so that people will see and that takes a bit of time.
Ari: Yeah, yeah. It's almost like if you know, if you're entering a race and your five laps behind, you need to bridge that gap to show, that you are five left behind. You need to take into account how fast the competition is actually growing right and then you need a strategy to be able to compete with that for those spots.
Andrew: And I guess local PR would play into that as well, wouldn't it?
Ari: Yeah, absolutely. It's hugely important. And that's what examples like, obviously, you know, I've been doing this for 15 years now. So there's we've worked in multiple industries, but a really good example is a firm and it was a startup that approached us a few months ago. There was a new law coming in that actually got passed, I think, in February and basically requiring all households to have interlinked smoke alarms. So based on that information, we started a campaign six months ago and you know, we got from, you know, I think like the client was doing maybe four or five leads a month and absolutely no traffic at the beginning. We ranked them for some terms like, you know, interlink smoke alarms and when the law actually passed it just skyrocketed and we ended up over 200 leads a month.
Andrew: So you're able to research what is the phrase that is, you know, commercially valuable for the company or the client that pays you, and they're paying to be able to rank for that commercially valuable phrase?
Ari: Yeah, exactly. In this case, it was all about the timing of it too and so starting six months before the law actually comes into play.
Andrew: Yeah, that's really interesting because it was time sensitive. Ok, well let's move on to the next question. So it's continuing on. So what are your thoughts on how businesses can improve their growth? I've added in some examples like obviously, you've got to set targets for a lot of local businesses, you know they may not even be tracking their calls. So I guess you've got a lot of experience with working with companies, you know? What are you generally saying to them when they're thinking about growth and how they can improve things?
Ari: Yeah, I think the the main problem that we actually come across is that tracking in general is an issue for small firms and also big businesses. For small firms, it's an issue because most of them don't really know where the traffic is actually coming from. Right. And so they don't really have, you know, conversion tracking in place. They don't really know the split when it comes to marketing. So we've had a lot of clients come to us that have spent quite a lot of money over the years on their SEO, PPC advertising and without actually measuring it correctly.
Andrew: They struggle to join up the dots, is that it?
Ari: Exactly, exactly. So I think that the most important thing to do initially is to educate them on how to actually do that and actually set it up too. Because at the end of the day, you know what works for you. And at the end of the month, when you actually look into your reports, you'll be able to make better marketing decisions when it comes to budget.
Andrew: Yeah. And put your money where it will have greater impact. Absolutely. Ok. And fifth question here. What recent changes have you seen in SEO that impact local firms and companies?
Ari: Okay. I think that the biggest one, the biggest change that we've seen was actually November, and it was a local maps update, really. And so up until now, especially like in small towns, you know, local search has been unsaturated. And so it's fairly... not easy I'd say, well, you can get in and rank fairly quick and within a few months, you can actually, you know, do great depending on the city obviously and the competition, because...
Andrew: Some industries would be maybe more or less competitive. You know, like if you're a hairdresser, it's maybe more competitive than, let's say, if you were, you know, enterprise accountants. I mean, I guess that's something to be aware of.
Ari: Yeah, absolutely. It really depends on the industry you're actually in. And up until then, when you run to the top three for certain terms, you had a lot more reach. And like I say, like a radius, you could, you know, you would not only show up within like a mile, you'd have like a lot more reach, but since November this has actually changed quite a lot. And so your reach is quite restricted.
Andrew: So you're talking where the person is searching from relative to where your company is based. Right?
Ari: Exactly. And so that was one of the big things that we actually saw and there was a lot of other things that didn't really make sense. So I think, you know, it's a case of like topical authority comes into play here. So we saw maybe a lot of businesses...
Andrew: …ok slow down a second there, on topical authority, we might start to lose people! …but I guess, you know, without getting too technical because this chat is obviously aimed at people who don't really understand SEO, they maybe want to dip their toe in the water. So like, I guess what we're trying to say when you say topical authority, you're really talking about... My understanding is search engines want to know what your authoritative for. So for example, if you sell a particular type of service, you need to be known for that type of service. Is that right?
Ari: Right. And what we've seen since this update is that companies that maybe specialize in one thing and tend to do a little bit better in maps compared to companies that maybe do provide maybe multiple services, including that service. And even if they have less reviews, and even if the website has, you know, it's not as optimized, we've actually seen that firms that specialize in one thing tend to actually rank better.
Andrew: And you mentioned reviews there. I mean, I'd imagine that that's really important for local and regional businesses to have an actual process in place to get good reviews.
Ari: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's crucial and there's several ways that you can actually do it. But having a process in the first place, I think, is important. Yeah. And just being a little bit more proactive about asking your existing customers for reviews because, you know, most don't go do it, you know, you have to follow up and to get them? But it's hugely important.
Andrew: Yeah. But from an SEO perspective, I mean, we understand, you know, if you see three stars, that's not as good as five stars, you know, you don't need to be a digital marketing expert to understand that - we all do it on Amazon. But actually, from a how your company might be visible within Google, like are we saying that reviews actually are part of that now?
Ari: Definitely. Even... even what people actually mention in reviews. For example, if you're... if you're Googling for a specific service, you might notice that when you actually see the local Map Pack, you will see the businesses and Google will actually pull up the review that mentions that service. And it will say something... this website mentions, you know, cosmetic dentistry or something.
Andrew: So ideally, if you're getting good reviews or asking for good reviews, you almost want them to mention that, Hey, this was a great accountant or this was a great legal service, not just hey, two thumbs up. And that's it.
Ari: Exactly. And when you search for it, you see that specific review mention that keyword. And so it's important. And it's important to reply and also interact with reviews, too. And it's important to keep your profile fresh. And so, yeah, it's a good thing to have a process in place for that.
Andrew: Ok. Well, I think that's quite enough for this chat today. Ari, thanks for your time. If anyone is watching and they'd like to get in touch, you can check out BigPondDigital.co.uk, details are on the screen here folks, and we will catch up with you again soon. Thanks.
Ari: Thank you.
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Want more advice? Call us on 01292 844899. If you’re in a hurry, email claire@bigponddigital.co.uk and let’s set up a chat.
Until next time - good luck!
The Team @ Big Pond
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