About company

Our client is a company that has been selling high-quality sewing machines from 94 countries around the world for over 30 years. It provides complete equipment and service used by the largest companies in the industry. Thanks to its experience and high standards, it enjoys the trust of its customers, but is still ready to develop and expand the base of contractors. Therefore, in order to increase sales, she contacted us with an order for the SEO service of a corporate website on the web.

Goals and assumptions

At the time of signing the contract, the client’s website saw a decrease in visibility in the search engine, which also influenced the traffic and conversions. Therefore, the main goal was to reverse this trend and increase the website’s visibility, especially on difficult phrases for which the website obtained poor positions. The client also wanted to promote some devices and manufacturers from their offer, so we also chose the appropriate phrases for these purposes.

The contract is implemented from the very beginning on the basis of consulting – we do not make any corrections on the client’s website, but we watch over its SEO and recommend changes that the company implements using its own resources. We prepare detailed guidelines regarding both technical issues and the content to be included on the website, we also have regular contact with the client’s developer – in person and, if necessary, also by phone. This is one of the few cases when a client has contact not only with an account manager, but also an SEO specialist. In addition to preparing guidelines, we also deal with link building, i.e. creating a valuable profile of external links leading to the client’s website. We perform all of these activities as part of a $ 5,000 monthly package.

What did we start with?

When we started cooperation, i.e. in June 2020, the website already noted a lot of phrases in the top positions, but it had a lot of untapped potential. Her results from this period are:
– 80 phrases in TOP3,
– 345 phrases in TOP10,
– 2153 phrases in TOP50.

It is a good result which provides a solid foundation for further actions. However, in order to increase visibility, it was necessary to implement a whole list of tweaks that we specified for the client in an extensive audit.

Our recommendations

The guidelines contained instructions for introducing mechanisms to automate and improve the operation of the entire website, and thus minimize the introduction of manual changes. This was to eliminate errors in internal linking, limit the wide scale of 404 errors and improve the poor indexation resulting from a large base of similar products. It turned out that it was necessary to change the category structure, introduce key phrases to the headers, category names and meta titles, or eliminate duplicates in searching through filters by introducing canonical links. We also commissioned a number of changes that could speed up the website and adapt it to the high standards of the Google algorithm.

As for the content – the existing texts required optimization for SEO, including saturation with key phrases selected by me. We also suggested introducing additional content on subpages with categories and organizing news and guidance content. As the client has sufficient resources to prepare the texts himself and wanted to use them, writing the content is entirely on his side. However, we prepare detailed guidelines for all texts that are created so that they are valuable both in terms of content and from the SEO point of view. These texts are directed only to purely sales subpages, such as category, product or category filter pages.

Results after half a year and after a year of cooperation

Cooperation in the consulting model is demanding both for us and for our clients. It requires a lot of discipline and the will to reach agreement on both sides. However, if they do show up, the results can be very good – just like for a website. After six months, the results were as follows:
– TOP3 – 128 phrases,
– TOP10 – 424 phrases,
– TOP50 – 2274 phrases.

In our industry, however, it is repeated like a mantra that positioning is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time for the implemented changes to start to bring tangible benefits in the form of increased traffic and improved visibility for the most difficult phrases. Therefore, it is also worth showing that this process is ongoing and you can still notice significant increases in organic results. In June this year, the results were as high as:
– 327 TOP3 phrases,
– 908 phrases in TOP10,
– 4266 phrases in the TOP50.

Organic traffic can be estimated at about 15.6 thousand per month. These are the results that show that we have chosen the right direction together with the client, and that our work translates into real profits for the company. This is also evidenced by the data from Analytics, which shows that the revenue from the organic channel in the third quarter of this year increased by 16.86% compared to the third quarter of last year, and the number of new users on the website increased by 26.92%.

Telephone conversation with HR (20-30 min)

If your experience and skills fit into the position profile, we will invite you to the first stage of recruitment. It is a 20-30 minute telephone conversation with HR. During this conversation, you will learn more about Paraphrase Online Group and the role you have applied for. We, in turn, will want to ask you about the details related to your career, competences and motivation to work in this position. We will also talk about your financial expectations and availability, so as to be sure that all conditions related to working with us are attractive to you.

Recruitment interview with team members (1h)

If our impressions after the first interview are positive, we will invite you to an hour-long interview with people from the team to which you submitted your application. This is a good opportunity for you to find out how it is to work in this department, so prepare your questions – we will be happy to answer them. We will want to ask questions that will allow us to better check your competences needed for this position. You can expect questions based on specific situations that you may encounter while working with us. This will allow us to assess even better if you will do well in this role and you will get a taste of what is waiting for you with us. At the beginning of the meeting, we will invite you to complete a short psychological test, it will take no more than 10 minutes.

Optional – a task (it will take you about 1 hour of your own time + 30 minutes for a meeting devoted to discussing the task)

For some recruitments, we also introduce a task to help us check your approach to solving specific problems. For us, it is one of the best ways to test competences and be sure that the best players will join our team. We will give you a time to complete the task – approx. 2-3 days, we will also make sure that you do not need to spend more than an hour of your own time on it. After you complete the task, we will arrange a short meeting to discuss it.

We often combine this stage with a recruitment interview, asking you to prepare a solution to a problem before the meeting.

Who will you meet?

The meeting is always attended by your new manager, i.e. the person with whom you will cooperate most closely. We want you to get to know each other better. It is also the best time to tell you more about the team you applied to and dispel any doubts.

What questions can you expect in the interview?

We ask about issues related to the role you applied for.

We use situational questions, i.e. questions that refer to your specific past experience, and additionally those that refer to hypothetical situations. They help us better understand how you operate and how you approach problem solving.

We use the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method for this. We need not only a description of the situation you faced, but most of all information on how you dealt with it. Be specific in answering such questions.

We also conduct a short test that will tell us more about your social competences and main personality traits. Thanks to this, we will check if we are on the same wavelength.

Finally, we will confirm the financial conditions and your availability.

Remember that the interview is also a time for you to ask any questions that may bother you in the context of your role and company.

How to prepare for a job interview?

It is always worth being prepared and this is one of the principles that we value at Paraphrase Online Group. You can prepare for the interview as follows:

Re-read the job advertisement and learn about the requirements. During the interview, we will focus on the areas that are crucial to us in the context of this position, and the announcement will give you a full picture of who we are looking for this particular role. So most of the answers are right there.

Check your CV and think about the skills that will make you suitable for this job. Think in terms of achievements, i.e. specific things that you have managed to improve, do better, those that have brought benefits to the company. Bring up a few situations that will confirm your competences. This is what we will ask you about.

Check out our website, blog and Facebook – do your homework and get to know the company you want to work for.

Paraphrase Online Group does not have a formal dress code, so everyone you meet at the interview will wear jeans and a T-shirt rather than a suit.

Feedback

After each stage of recruitment, we return to the candidates with feedback.

If it is positive, that’s great – we will contact you to confirm the terms of cooperation. The next step will be to sign a cooperation agreement. For this purpose, a person from our Administration Department will contact you.

However, if we decide that your experience and competences do not fit into the profile of the candidate we are looking for, you will receive information from us about the reasons for such a decision. We usually come back with feedback within a few days, but if the recruitment process has to be extended, we will let you know. If the answer does not come on time – be sure to remind us.

What should you bear in mind when talking online?

At the time the meeting is scheduled, click on the Google Meet link we sent you in the email and join the conversation. Below are some tips to keep in mind before meeting online.

– Familiarize yourself with Google Meet if you haven’t used this tool before.
– Check the quality of your internet connection.
– Check that your headphones and microphone are working.
– Find a quiet place where you can talk (preferably with natural light shining directly on your face).

Offer

Everything was okay? Cool! Welcome to Paraphrase Online Group!

What is a domain in the simplest words?

The concept of a domain is quite complex, but the easiest way to explain is that it is a website address on the Internet. After entering it, the associated website is displayed in the browser bar. Therefore, the terms “domain” and “website address” are often used interchangeably. Domains are used to make it easier for users to navigate the Internet – just like physical addresses in a city are much easier “to use” than, for example, the geographical coordinates of a given place.

Domains are served by the Domain Name System (DNS) service. It translates user-understandable domain names, consisting of specific words and phrases, into an IP address that is understandable by devices that support the network.

What does a domain consist of?

The domain consists of several elements. Primarily:
– domain name,
– extension e.g. .com

To get the full website address, you must add the protocol (http: // or https: //) and optionally a subdomain (usually www.).

The domain name can contain letters, numbers or the sign “-” (hyphen). Upper and lower case letters are not distinguished. Diacritical marks can also be used recently, but in practice they are rarely used. They are sometimes even considered bad practice.

It is also worth mentioning the extensions. There are many types of extensions that can be divided into several groups:
– national (ccTLD): .nl, .de, .sk, .fr, co.uk, .ru,
 – top-level global (TLD): .com, .net, .org, .info, .eu,
– functional (gTLD): .edu (for educational sites), .org (for organizations), .gov (for government sites), .net (for internet access services), .biz (for business), .mil (for military agencies),
 – functional second level (SLD): .com.de, edu.fr, .net.sk, .biz.nl,
– regional (SLD).

Domain and website

A domain is not the same as a website – it is just the address of a specific place on the web where it can be found. Registration of internet domain names usually requires a fee and is renewed annually. This means that if you stop paying for the domain, you will lose your internet space and it can be very difficult to recover it. In practice, therefore, each specific address on the network is rented (leased). It is not possible to acquire it indefinitely. However, the right to use the domain can be resold. Some people take advantage of this and buy out “abandoned” domains (that is, addresses for which someone stopped paying) as soon as they pass the quarantine period and return to the free market, and then resell them to the original owners or competitors for a much higher price.

There are also free domains, but they are usually very restrictive and not suitable for building “serious” websites. However, that’s not all, because hosting a website is also necessary. It can be likened to a building plot – it is a server space where all the files that make up the website are stored, i.e. those responsible for its appearance and content.

How much does a domain cost?

As already mentioned, there are free internet domains available. Usually, however, they do not have attractive extensions, and certainly not easy to remember addresses with the ending, for example: .com. Usually, when using a free domain, it is very difficult to reach a wider audience. Sometimes you can get an address for free with a fixed-term hosting subscription, but you usually have to pay the domain fee when extending your contract. How much it costs? Prices depend on the domain name and its extension, as well as the Internet service provider – the offers of individual companies may differ slightly. Often the price of domain registration is attractive and ranges from a dollar to several dozen dollars. However, be careful because, as a rule, its extension (which usually takes one year) is much more expensive. Then the costs (for the domain itself, without hosting) range from several dozen to several hundred dollars.

How to choose a domain name?

Not everyone attaches importance to it, but the domain name is very important – after all, it will be a showcase of your business, regardless of whether it is a corporate or personal website.

In the past, domains directly related to the profile of the website’s activity were selected in order to positively influence the positioning of the website in search engines (e.g. bus rental, website-positioning, etc.). Nowadays, however, it is not necessary, because Google does not distinguish addresses constructed in this way in any way.

Therefore, a much better solution seems to be an address with a unique brand name. In order to obtain good results in the field of positioning, it is worth carrying out successive branding activities, using the company’s name in various places on the web. Thanks to this, it becomes more credible, and thus appears higher in the search results. For this reason, it is sometimes worth buying a second-hand domain. If there are many valuable links leading to it on the Internet, it will definitely support SEO activities, especially if it has a meaningful background history.

However, the users must not be forgotten. The domain name should be easy to remember and write down. Short addresses work best, without or only with single hyphens or numbers and without complicated words or words, e.g. of foreign-language origin, which create doubts as to the correct spelling. Most often, American websites use .com extensions which are considered the most reliable. When operating on many markets, it is also worth choosing the global (.com) extension or creating separate domains with country-specific endings (e.g. .de, .co.uk., .fr, etc.).

Internet advertising is currently the best way to reach potential customers. It allows you to use many channels that can be tailored to your needs and expectations. Nothing prevents you from investing in several forms of Internet advertising at the same time – such a multifaceted approach may increase the chance of achieving sales success and allow you to optimize your activities.

SEO – a way to reach the top of the search engine

Advertising for an online store begins with the presence of a website in the search results. Statistics show that web users choose mainly those websites that are on the first page of the search engine, less often on the second. If the online store is located on other pages, it is practically non-existent. That is why it is so important to reach the top – preferably TOP 10.

SEO helps in achieving such effects – a number of activities related to the optimization and positioning of the website. The first step is to optimize the store, which includes, among others meta tags, category descriptions, product descriptions, content.

The key activity in positioning is providing valuable links – in line with the chosen strategy. It is also no less important to create a friendly structure of the website itself for Google’s web robots that index the page. Moreover, many positioners believe that content is of key importance – its high quality, intriguing content and responding to the needs of the customer group we are interested in. Such a thesis makes sense considering the fact that the foundation of the Google search engine is the fact that it feeds on content and responds well to content that is attractive to its users.

You can take care of website positioning yourself. However, since positioning takes a lot of time and training, many companies decide to entrust work on improving visibility in the search engine to specialized agencies or freelancers.

It is also worth bearing in mind that positioning is a long-term process and requires attention. Of course, situations in which the website climbs upwards are common (a lot depends on the budget and competitiveness), but more often you have to wait at least a few months for the results. A lot of companies, however, invest in positioning because in the long run it is the cheapest method of advertising their website and also increases the value of the website itself.

Google Ads – the perfect advertisement for an online store?

Positioning an online store is a long-term process, so you have to wait for the results. To speed up customer acquisition, you can opt for Google Ads – it’s a paid advertisement for an online store.

The most frequently chosen form of Google Ads are sponsored links. It is about displaying the ad above the organic results after the user enters certain phrases (and sometimes also under). By clicking on the link, the internet user will be redirected to the online store or website with the service offer.

The Google advertising platform also allows you to run campaigns on external websites. Advertising for the online store will appear in the form of banners which, after intriguing the Internet user, will transfer him to a given page. This is the so-called Google advertising network, which basically brings together all relevant websites or blogs.

The third option – especially eagerly chosen by online stores – is Google Shopping. It is a tool that allows you to promote specific products directly in the search engine. How does it look in practice? When the user enters the name of the product in the search engine, your store’s offer will be displayed in a special box – along with the price and photo.

Paraphrase-Online.com customers are more and more willing to invest higher and higher budgets there, which speaks for itself – businesses invest where it is most profitable.

Google Ads also allows you to run Youtube ads that replace traditional TV ads. They offer much cheaper reaching better defined groups. Thanks to them, you can also create very wide-reaching campaigns and still save a lot of funds compared to other forms of brand advertising.

Okay, why is Google Ads the most-chosen form of advertising on the Internet? And why is it considered to be basically perfect?

First of all, it allows you to target your audience very well. The better selected group, the more effectively invested funds. If you spend $ 100 in a wrong group, you can get, for example, one client. Similarly, $ 100 spent in a group potentially more interested may result in acquiring, for example, two or 3 customers, which will reduce the cost of acquiring a customer by 50 or 66% – each optimization change of this type allows therefore to allocate the budget more sensibly, and Google Ads thanks to detailed options to reach it allows it.

Second, Google Ads is measurable. You know exactly how much it cost you to acquire a given client and you know where he came from and what led him to do so. Thanks to the connection with Google Analytics, you can even know how he traveled the page to finally decide to buy.

The third feature that makes Google Ads so valued is the form of settlement – most often in the CPC model, i.e. per click. Therefore, you do not pay for the fact that someone saw your ad, but for the actual click and redirection to your website. Honest.

Advertising on Facebook

While there are many social networking sites out there, advertising for an online store on Facebook – especially in certain industries – is the most popular. Thanks to it you can:
– conduct image communication with recipients – this allows for building and maintaining long-term relationships,
– acquiring leads – obtaining data from potential clients,
– advertise products directly.

The basis is to create a fan page, but even the best and most interesting entries will not allow you to reach a wide group of potential customers. Paid campaigns, which are distinguished by considerable flexibility, can be of help.

You can choose from:
– sponsored posts,
– Messenger ads,
– remarketing banners.

An interesting option is the so-called collection (carousel) going to the main section of a potential customer. Thanks to it, it is possible to present many specific products. Among them, there are often those that a potential buyer was looking for.

Facebook is attractive to advertisers because, like Google Ads, it allows you to reach selected target groups, but also allows you to interact with users. Ultimately, it can engage more than Youtube.

Content marketing – for better recognition

Content marketing is marketing activities that focus on different content. This is not a typical advertisement for an online store, because it most often complements other promotional channels and, for example, is an important element in the process of website positioning.

The essence of content marketing is to provide valuable content – useful from the point of view of the recipient. These are most often expert articles published on external websites, but also articles published on the company’s blog.

Such activities help build a positive image and increase brand awareness. In addition, they help in obtaining valuable links, which is important in the context of positioning.

In fact, however, this is just the tip of the iceberg. When thinking about content, we must have a huge range of possibilities at the back of our heads that are not only based on content but also form. The task of the content department may therefore be to create webinars, guides, trendbooks, lookbooks, infographics, books for children and whatever your heart desires. Each form used should be adapted to the expectations of a given group.

Advertising for an online store – what to decide on?

It is difficult to clearly identify specific channels that allow to achieve the best advertising results. It all depends on many factors – including your expectations, the needs of potential customers, the way the campaign is run and the industry.

Remember that the effectiveness of advertising for an online store is influenced not only by the type of selected channel, but most of all:
– correct determination of the target group,
– precise specification of the purpose of the campaign,
– systematic monitoring of the results.

The last point is especially important, because based on the results achieved, you can modify the ads – so that they bring even better results. Constant control allows you to simultaneously increase / decrease financial outlays for specific channels.

Advertising campaign – alone or with support?

If you are just starting to carry out activities aimed at promoting your online store, it will be difficult for you to implement the campaign yourself. It is possible as long as you have the appropriate knowledge – it is crucial, among others to precisely define the target group or to correctly configure specific ads.

If you want to be sure that the money invested in specific channels will not be wasted, rely on the support of professionals. Experts in the field of internet marketing will choose the right tools to make the process of promoting your store on the Internet more efficient. This will increase the chances of achieving the assumed goal, e.g. increasing sales, building brand awareness, acquiring leads.