Our statistics

We have recently decided to perform an internal audit regarding the SEO services we provide. This study aimed to see what percentage of customers are not staying with us for longer. So we took to the workshop a little over 200 recently signed page positioning agreements. Our analysis showed that in the last year, 4.8% of clients for various reasons did not decide to continue cooperation with our agency. To check this statistics, we also examined the period of the last two years. The result showed that only 4.04% of customers left us at that time.

Why do customers resign?

The percentage result (4%) presented in the previous paragraph was an impulse to take further actions. Inside the agency, we asked ourselves the most probable reasons for clients giving up cooperation with us. Our audit brought the following conclusions:

A. No payment (10.18%) – this group includes customers who have not paid their debts, and we terminated the contract in these cases.

B. Lack of cooperation on the client’s side (25.66%) – in each case of cooperation with us, cooperation on the client’s side is an obligatory record. Its intensity is always dependent on the type of website, the access, rights and authorizations provided to us, and the number of guidelines that are sent at the very beginning of the contract for many projects. Therefore, this group includes clients who for various reasons did not want to cooperate with us, did not implement the suggested changes or did not provide us with the legitimacy to take certain steps. Therefore, it can be concluded that in this case the client did not give us the opportunity to implement the intended activities, which meant we had to terminate the contracts signed. Our work cannot be carried out when we do not have the tools to do it. Often, clients belonging to this group stop talking themselves. In such situations, we usually wait patiently and try to act, but if there is no response from the other side (and often it is even required) despite repeated attempts, we terminate the contract.

C. No work results (33.19%) – our industry is often unpredictable and everyone who has ever dealt with SEO knows about it. It should be emphasized that it is 33% but only with 4% of clients who terminate contracts, i.e. about 1.3% of all clients who signed contracts with Paraphrase-Online.com during the period. In this case, customers were not satisfied with the results of the work. This allegation most often relates to monitoring the position of selected phrases. It is worth adding that often this problem is the result of customer expectations regarding the inclusion of phrases in monitoring (it is a permanent element of every contract) for which the given page already has high positions. Some customers are very attached to this model of work analysis and it is difficult to argue here the positioner’s actions by increasing website traffic or visibility in global terms. There are also customers who have positions in the top 5, but terminate the contract because they want to have the top 1-2 themselves, which is not always feasible due to the search engine. Many of the clients qualified for this group also did not fully follow the guidelines we sent or simply refused to develop content on the site. Such cases constituted up to ⅗ of this group. Also noteworthy is the fact that 5% of all customers who resigned from working with us return to us years later.

D. Too high costs of the service (9.73%) – customers often stated that despite good positions, they are not fully returned from the investment incurred for the development of this channel and, however, prefer to spend their budget on testing other solutions. In this case, as the history of all contracts implemented by us shows, clients from this group often come back to us after several years of attempts to develop their e-business through other channels.

E. Closing of the site, change of management, bankruptcy of the company, end of contract (21.24%) – this is a group that indicates other reasons for leaving. The most common of them include situations in which the customer removes the page, the company declares bankruptcy, the owner or management board changes, which is focused from the beginning on cooperation with another entity. We have also qualified to this group in which the client after the end of the one-year contract decides not to extend the cooperation with us without giving a reason. This is most often associated with the reasons presented above or with the company’s strategy of testing the effects of cyclical change in positioning agencies.

Sweet kiss of the positioner – bitter kiss of the client

In our experience, the most important stage of cooperation is the time shortly before signing the contract and the first weeks of cooperation. Before signing the contract, the client receives from us all information regarding the implementation of SEO activities in the scope of the contract. He is also notified of what we will need from him to make the cooperation run smoothly. The first weeks after signing the contract are extremely important. During this time, we examine the site in detail and send precise guidelines to the client. Usually, after this initial stage, the client accepts our strategy and thanks to structured cooperation we operate in accordance with the assumed strategy. Unfortunately, as it happens in life, not all situations are perfect. There are clients who at all costs do not want to take certain steps or accept our guidelines or the changes we introduce. Such events limit or completely prevent us from taking effective action to increase website visibility. In our cooperation model, such a tug of war can end with us terminating the contract with the customer. The key is to understand our strategy at the negotiation stage, because our goal is not to sign contracts and unilaterally benefit from them. Cooperation is extremely important in our concept. If the customer does not want to make our changes, and there is no other way to achieve success, then this agreement does not make sense.

Visit to the dentist

To better illustrate this, let’s imagine that a John has a dental package purchased in a known network of dental offices. It includes monthly dental inspections, stone removal, sealing, root canal treatment and tooth extraction. One beautiful June morning, John’s wife Rachel prepared her husband’s unusual yet beloved seasonal meal – a fresh, peeled watermelon. Due to the fact that for several weeks it was extremely hot, before serving the dish Rachel decided to cool the juicy fruit. As soon as Mr. John sank his teeth into the red pulp, a terrifying moan sounded in the dining room. The reason for this cry was pain – something our hero has never experienced on such a scale before. Immediately after the incident, he went to the dentist, from whom he had a package purchased. He told about the situation and asked for a full oral examination. The dentist immediately stated that the cause of the pain was a small defect in the upper left trio and suggested putting the seal on immediately. John, who had never had dental problems before, refused to perform the procedure, without giving a reason for giving up the routine procedure. Time passed and John, in connection with permanent pain, became more and more unbearable man. He stopped dealing with his wife, whom he blamed for the whole situation, and at work he could not focus on everyday duties. He decided to go to the dentist again and agree to put on the seal. However, during the second review the doctor excluded this procedure. The condition of the tooth deteriorated enough to require root canal treatment. John was afraid of this option again and stated that he was not able to decide at this moment about such (in his opinion) a radical step. Before John left the office, the dentist asked him to rethink the proposal, because the procedure is included in his package and thanks to him he can get rid of unwanted ailment once and for all. The weeks went by, and John’s pain was gone thanks to decoctions of fenugreek and leek. Unfortunately, in December the pain returned with redoubled strength, and there was a huge swelling on the gums. John, contrite and completely deprived of the will to fight for interference in his teeth suit, he went to the dentist for the third time. This time the specialist was ruthless and said that in this situation the only option is to pull out the tooth. This time the patient realized that he had no choice but to submit to the will of the dentist. The tooth was removed, and John, in order not to scare his relatives with his incomplete smile, had to put on an expensive and not covered by the implant package …

Stages of SEO-destruction

So how does this translate into SEO? Unfortunately, quite a lot. Sometimes a customer who has a contract with us, avoids cooperation or refuses to accept even the simplest changes that aim to increase the visibility of the site. This is usually a straight path to problems. Unfortunately, often such situations can have a painful effect on the client’s business. That is why we as Paraphrase-Online.com do not wait until the “teeth” start to fall out. If we see that the customer does not cooperate with us previously agreed, we decide to terminate the contract. Our specialists are not for watching how a given site falls in visibility rankings, and subsequent competitors are ahead of it. We are here to actively work every day to increase the potential of the website in terms of SEO, which is why as many as 96% of customers decide to stay with us for longer.

5 types of customers

Based on many years of observations, we decided to divide customers into 5 types. We classified them in relation to the client’s adaptation to the set goals by accepting the implemented measures.

A. Partner – an ideal customer –This is a very aware customer. He understands that the agency is to help him achieve the given effect by undertaking the agreed actions. He responds positively to every cooperation or development proposal and tries to allow positioners the best working conditions. It should be remembered that he is not a conformist – he requires a lot, but at the same time understands that to achieve something, you need to put a lot of work into it. If you are heavily involved in the project and implement everything as agreed, then know that this customer will be very loyal and will stay with you for many years.

B. Visionary – to the goal at all costs –Customers of this type are only effect oriented. They are not interested in how and by what means you will reach his goals. In this case, you can even use illegal activities to accomplish your task as soon as possible. There is a high risk of contract termination!

C. Official – table and reports –It pushes targets into the background. According to its specificity, the measures we implement are the most important for it. He loves to send (preferably once a week) reports, statements and tables. Through constant verification of the implemented activities, the effects are only a distant mirage for him. It is only important how much and how well we carry out the package actions. Vive la package! Such a person often requires almost impossible reporting and translation from the modification of each line of code, which greatly complicates efficient operation. This customer will terminate the contract only if the agreed tasks are not carried out as agreed.

D. Individualist – everything in its own way –The funds turned out to be unreachable or failed for the client, and the presented goals are not satisfactory, so the client tries to introduce substitute activity, seeking solutions on their own. Sets new goals without informing the agency. His assumptions are unrealistic or do not comply with previous arrangements, and the measures are always considered inappropriate or too stripped down. Cooperation is difficult here, because reaching an agreement occurs only if you accept all customer requirements. There is a high risk of contract termination!

E. Rebel – for no reason rather than by choice –A rebel is a client who usually contests without reason the legitimacy of all actions, and all goals are pure abstraction for him. This type of contractor will not verify the activities carried out or settle you for the effects. In principle, it is not important what you do – at any time the day may come when the client will leave and will not give the reason for his behavior. If it already requires any results, these are the assumptions he invented and the work on the site is pointless and it is not worth wasting time on it.

Can you keep every customer?

In most situations this is possible, but sometimes you need to think about whether such activities should be a priority and whether they make sense at all. This applies to both the client and the agency. The statistics presented by us at the beginning show that a good work and a well-thought-out strategy can be reduced to an absolute minimum percentage of outgoing customers. In each case, partnership and care for mutual benefits are important. The parties appearing in a given contract should have the same goal – the success of the venture. At Paraphrase-Online.com, we try to meet the challenges posed by our contractors every day by implementing our proven strategy. Therefore, only 4% of our clients give up our services. In our opinion, with such statistics and the number of customers, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Who chooses keywords for positioning?

As we indicated in the introduction to this article, despite the growing strength of the website positioning trend focused on increasing overall visibility, without focusing on specific keywords, positioning on specific phrases, combined with their regular, daily monitoring is still important. That is why the selection of keywords stored in the positioning contract is so important. We know from experience that the results and presence of keywords in the top 10 are one of the bases for assessing customer satisfaction with positioning services, along with increased visibility and website traffic.

Our clients have unique knowledge about what part of the range is crucial for their business, what people interested in their offer ask, what phrases they use, etc. This information is very useful in the context of creating a set of keywords. That is why in-depth customer interview regarding keyword expectations is so important.

A good set of keywords is the result of knowledge of the client and the account manager. The first one is the person who knows his business best, knows what brings him the most money, which is an important and profitable niche worth promoting, which products will soon disappear from the offer and as such are not worth advertising, etc. Paraphrase-Online customer care specialist is a specialist who has an overview through search engine trends, has access to tools dedicated to keyword selection, knows from practice what works in promotion, observes changes in Google search engine (e.g. the issue of local positioning).

Due to this, it is worth cooperating with each other in the selection of keywords – for the common good, it is not worth underestimating the knowledge of both the client and the account manager.

What characterizes a good set of keywords?

Despite the specifics of each positioned website and the uniqueness of the set of keywords matched to the promotion, one can distinguish a pool of common features that characterize well-chosen keywords. We will present them at this point:

A. Matching keywords to the offer visible on the website – this is related to the construction of the Google search engine itself, which in matching pages to the results displayed in the search engine is based on the content of websites. In short: if something does not appear on the website literally (this applies primarily to the content and appropriate meta tags), then Google’s web robots are not able to match such a page to the query – keyword. Therefore, it is not possible to effectively position yourself for phrases absent from the site or “on stock” (unless a sub-page announcing the appearance of a new product or service in the offer is available – such a pre-premiere presentation). For the same reason, it is also not possible to effectively position yourself on competition-related phrases (apart from the ethical overtones of such a situation).

An interesting case related to the selection of phrases is the situation in which some customers searching for a given product or service uses the incorrect term – colloquial, not professional, with a spelling mistake, etc. In the ancient past SEO in the positioning of keyword sets appeared keywords with popular spelling mistakes, but today Google is good at understanding the intentions of the user and correcting spelling mistakes. It looks a little different in the case of synonyms, colloquial names, etc., which are often considered incorrect from an industry point of view, and the customers themselves do not want to have them because of the “unprofessionality” used on their website (although they also want to promote them) efficiently). Their Google robots are not so good at matching terminology yet. In such a situation, a compromise solution is e.g. the use of these colloquial phrases in the texts in the blog part, and not on the product category subpages. The blog entry formula allows for greater freedom and clarification in the entry of the relationship between colloquial and professional naming. This is a compromise, although not perfect solution. However, it allows a meaningful link between the website and the desired keywords.

B. Keyword diversity in length – general, specific and long tails. We have already described the topic of phrases with long tails on our blog. In this post, we also want to present in more detail the trend regarding the length of typed phrases in the search engine. The relationship between shorter and longer phrases definitely indicates the reverse of the “one-word” trend.

C. Matching phrases to business location – this is particularly important for local service businesses. The place names appearing in the keywords must correspond to the real seat of the company (head office, branch, store, stationary point etc. – what has its stationary address). Positioning on a “uncomfortable” town will not be effective. Due to Google’s preferences in matching the displayed results to their location, it is definitely worth placing your stationary address on the website, even if the service is largely provided away or at the company’s clients.

D. Linking phrases with each other – if you decide to position your website on related passwords (forming a kind of family) then you can count on a better effect than in the case of several unrelated terms. It is good to bet even on several groups of terms referring to different elements of the offer than on unrelated passwords. When planning a set of keywords, it is worth consulting a mentor who, based on his experience, will advise on the right set of keywords, supporting the positioning process and properly presenting the offer of the promoted company.

E. Competitiveness of phrases and pace of entry to the top 10 search engine results – it is worth focusing on such a set of keywords that will ensure website visibility at the first stage of the positioning process. For this reason, it’s also good to have less competitive terms in the set, which will quickly enter the top 10 search results and ensure visibility and traffic on the site at an earlier stage of the positioning process. For this reason, it is not worth betting on the very highly competitive phrases, in which we will have to wait for the results, and thus the benefits associated with them.

Selection of keywords – what do people enter in the search engine?

Contrary to popular belief, general passwords are not the most popular and are not the most frequently entered. Research indicates that as much as over 80% of keywords entered in a search engine consists of 2 or more keywords. It should be noted that these more elaborate expressions with long tails are less often described as separate queries (which is a logical consequence of their greater diversity), but in general they constitute the majority of phrases that are typed in the search engine. Therefore, it is important to properly interpret the results for keywords after which potential customers reach the given website. Phrases with long tails will not be at the forefront of such results, but this does not mean that you should give them up.

There is also the question of readiness to buy from a potential customer – the person who enters a more precise password is closer to throwing the product into the basket than the one who searches for approximate general terms.

General or specific keywords?

In this case, a lot may depend on what budget allocated to the positioning service we have. The budget largely determines the planned and feasible actions. That is why it is so important to determine at the outset the amount that can be spent on SEO per month.

It happens that our clients suggest that they find the most general phrases among their keywords, considering that such phrases catch the largest number of their potential customers. General and very varied (unrelated) phrases are best in small quantities, because it will be cheaper – a set of terms such as “windows”, “doors”, “gates”, “drives”, “blinds” – this is the recipe for ineffective positioning .

In the case of a small budget, it is better to bet on varied phrases, among which there will be ones that will bring the effect and visibility faster, and thus more quickly reveal their potential in attracting customers. We write about a small budget because it places the biggest restrictions on positioning and choosing phrases. It is also worth realizing that the concept of “small budget” is relative and something else will be a small amount for a local business from a small town, and something else for an online store. That is why it is sometimes necessary to realize that some amount may be too small to be able to carry out effective positioning activities. In this situation, we inform our potential customers about it, not wanting to expose them to unnecessary and unprofitable expenses. The same way we inform our clients before signing the contract about the fact that a given page is extremely unadapted for positioning and before the SEO specialist starts working with it, it should be looking forward to its new version.

What is SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the ways by which you can promote your online business. The essence of SEO is such activities that Google will consider a site valuable, which will show it higher in search results. Website optimization consists in conducting activities on the site (on-site) and off-site. In addition, content on a website is extremely important in SEO. The better the texts appear on the site (both in terms of language and content), the better Google will evaluate the entire site.

In this article, we present the advantages of SEO, which – we hope – will dispel your doubts about starting positioning activities. Below are seven SEO benefits that will affect the development of your business.

Seven reasons to invest in SEO

A. Visibility on Google
98.38% of users use Google search engine (data from September 2019 according to Paraphrase-Online.com). Of this huge number, a really negligible percentage goes to the other side of the search engine – that’s why you should make sure that your keywords get the highest possible page rank. Because it is using the Google search engine that customers look for information about products and services.

The higher you go to Google, the greater the chance that a potential customer will visit your site. The benefits of SEO in the form of visibility will translate into more website traffic.

B. SEO is an opportunity for small businesses
Promoting a site on which no previous positioning activities were conducted can take from six months to even several years. For some this may seem like a long period of time, however, the effects that the website will get – if only the actions are performed correctly – can last for years.

Search engine optimization is a long-term process – stopping website optimization may result in a decrease in visibility, because Google focuses on promoting websites that are constantly expanding. In addition, remember that if you give up positioning activities, you give competitors who know the advantages of SEO, the opportunity to chase you away in search results. Regular investment in SEO brings enormous benefits, especially to growing businesses that are unable to spend on promoting such large budgets as large corporations.

With a constant budget, you build visibility of your online business for years. SEO benefits are also such that after a while you don’t have to (but you can, the effects will be even better) increase your budget significantly.

C. SEO is profit for the company
Investing in positioning with a reasonable budget and maintaining business continuity will ensure a return on investment. That is why it is worth starting a cooperation with a marketing agency, which will not only conduct a detailed audit of your website, but also plan activities for the next months, so as not to burn your budget.

A good SEO agency will not only prepare a plan for you, but will also constantly monitor the growth of individual keywords and will ensure the visibility of your website. However, don’t be put off by the lack of results after 3 months – it’s not like you don’t have any benefit from SEO. As we mentioned in point B. for SEO to be profitable, the site should be positioned for at least half a year.

The benefits and advantages of SEO are enormous when it comes to your company’s earnings. Positioning is an investment that after some time (depending on many factors, e.g. industry or your budget) will bring you significant profit while maintaining a low budget.

D. SEO is cheaper in the long run
The advantages of SEO are also a constant budget and growing effects. A well prepared SEO strategy can be cheaper than other forms of online advertising. The first half of the year is mainly an investment that, compared to other PPC ads, may seem unprofitable at first glance. However, if you survive the first phase, in which you mainly invest, then you will later appreciate these seemingly unprofitable positioning activities.

For paid advertising methods, you must pay to see results and traffic on the site. In the case of SEO after the first phase, traffic is still growing (organic searches) despite the same budget. Positioning conversions for long-term activities are simply more effective.

After some time, organic traffic continues to grow while maintaining the same budget. The costs of positioning activities do not increase drastically, as in the case of other forms of online advertising. These SEO advantages will also allow you to set a firm budget for the months and years ahead.

E. Local SEO will attract customers from the area
SEO also brings benefits to the local market. Google has long been giving users results that are based on their geolocation (e.g. GPS location).

How does it look in practice? You enter “cheap hairdresser” or “good patisserie” on Google, ignoring the city, and Google based on your location will show you the results of the nearest premises in the current area. Most of the answers to queries that the user directs to the search engine are personalized. The advantages of SEO are different, but for smaller businesses this is one of the most important, if not the most important: local positioning is also cheaper than global positioning, and for some industries it is also much more effective. A good SEO agency will tell you which type of positioning will be most profitable for your business and what exactly benefits SEO will give you.

Local positioning is often cheaper and more profitable for small businesses that address their offer to the local market.

F. SEO will show you as an expert
What are the benefits of SEO besides increasing sales? Positioning increases the visibility of the website on the internet, which translates into greater customer confidence in the brand. SEO activities also include content marketing, i.e. creating valuable content from the user’s point of view.

The more answers your questions find on your site, the faster Google will notice and position you higher. And the higher the page is on Google, the more likely they are likely to be trusted by its customers. SEO will help you achieve the image of an expert on the web, and will also show users that your employees are very knowledgeable and not afraid to share it. The more substantive content you provide to users, the more likely they will buy a product from you or pay for the service, believing that you know what you are doing. The advantages of SEO are not only influenced by increasing sales – it also increases brand awareness in the eyes of your potential customers.

The higher your business is on Google, the more likely Internet users will trust you. And people prefer to buy from experts and trusted sellers, than unknown companies.

G. SEO is advertising reaching a specific group of recipients
SEO will allow you to reach people actually interested in your offer. In the case of e.g. billboards or outdoor advertising, the message reaches both people who would be interested in leaving you money and people who will never use your services. Positioning allows you to create a model persona and match both queries and answers to the user who is your potential customer.

With well-conducted SEO activities, you don’t have to worry that part of the budget reaches people who are not interested in your offer.

What are the benefits of positioning?

Website positioning can give you above all real profit from business – sales and customers. By climbing the next positions in the search results, you have a great opportunity to reach more people who want to buy your product or use your services. The higher you go on Google, the better chance you have of increasing inquiries. And that’s what you mean, right?

Website positioning process

SEO is a long-term process worth investing in. However, it is difficult to run your own business – hiring employees, taking care of orders or accounting as well as the quality of the goods or services provided is time-consuming enough. Therefore, you should not make decisions about independent positioning hastily. In SEO agencies, positioning is done by teams consisting of several people. These are, among others, positioners, client supervisors or copywriters. Each person is responsible for a different aspect of positioning, thanks to which they can 100% focus on performing specific actions for your company. Thanks to cooperation with an SEO agency you have the chance to significantly increase your revenue.

Combining strategies

We encourage you to combine different e-marketing strategies. The combination of SEO and PPC ads, i.e. Google Ads, is particularly effective under the influence of conversions. Google Ads drives sales in the first phase, when positioning will work on itself, and then will support (with a lower budget) organic traffic, obtained through SEO.

Whisper marketing – definition

The key concept associated with the definition of whisper marketing is recommendation. What is the point To understand, think about how often you talk to family, friends or colleagues about different types of products. Do you ever share your opinion about the fridge you bought or how the new TV works? You recommend your friends proven repair companies or shops with friendly service. This is what a whisper is based on.

The goals of whisper marketing are:
– arousing interest in a given product or brand, encouraging consumers to discuss it,
– creating trends – building “fashion” for specific products or brands,
– strengthening the brand image through positive recommendations,
– spreading information about current promotions, and thus – increasing the likelihood that the customer will opt for the product.

What forms can whisper marketing take?

“Whispering” can be run both online and offline. The second category includes actions led by brand ambassadors. But online whisper marketing is the most prevalent. This happens because:

– campaigns are easy to carry out – they can even be partially automated,
– you can gain wide ranges in various communication channels – some time ago the “whispering” on the forums was the most popular, today this role is taken over by social media,
– You can engage audiences in discussions about the brand in many ways.

But the divisions are not over yet. Because online whisper marketing alone can also be implemented by various methods – less and more ethical.

Whisper marketing – it’s not just paid posts on forums / social media. The first association many people have with whisper marketing are paid posts placed on internet forums or on Facebook by hired people. I must admit that just a few years ago this was the form most often taken by the whisper. They paid for the mass insertion of positive opinions and whispered ads on various forums, as well as in the form of comments on social media. Today, there are still brands that use this way of promoting themselves on the market – this is common, for example, during political campaigns. Nevertheless, it is worth considering:

– how unethical whisper marketing will translate into the brand image in the long term?
– how soon will customers realize that this is an “artificial” campaign and not authentic opinions published by users?

You may think that an efficiently implemented “whisper” will keep the impression of naturalness. Remember, however, that consumers are becoming more aware and able to better detect intrusive ads. And in the modern marketing model there is no place for them. That is why whisper marketing in this form is slowly becoming a thing of the past. However, this does not mean that the strategy based on recommendations is bad. On the contrary. All you have to do is focus on more ethical and effective in the long run.

Authentic reviews are at a premium

Did you know that as many as 88% of users trust authentic, verified online reviews, as do recommendations obtained through personal contact? Exactly. The term “AUTHENTIC” plays a key role here. That is, not those commissioned by copywriters, but prepared by people who really bought the product / used the service.

You may find it difficult to obtain them. But look at the success of Google Maps, which encourages users to post reviews of places they’ve visited. In fact, Internet users do not receive any material benefits from this. Despite this, they willingly share their views with others, building a community of “local guides”. Also think about a rating system that works, for example, on eBay and similar sales portals. How often do you check if the seller has good reviews when buying?

Similar mechanisms can be used to build whisper marketing campaigns. It is about engaging consumers to express opinions and share information about the brand. This is what modern word-of-mouth marketing is all about!

How to get them? Useful will be e.g.:
– enriching the after-sales service of the customer with an e-mail asking for leaving an opinion, e.g. on the website of your e-store or portal that serves this purpose,
– affiliate program that encourages the sharing of opinions about the brand and provides the customer with “remuneration”, e.g. in the form of a discount for subsequent purchases,
– running a campaign based on brand ambassadors – but those who honestly say they represent it, and engage them in discussions with community members.

In this form, you can carry out word-of-mouth marketing, among others in social media. You can use, among others, the very popular groups on Facebook. They will allow you step by step to build a community related to your brand.

It is also worth engaging users for discussion in social media. So allow them to review your services / products and respond to both positive and negative voices in the discussion. Open, honest conversation, confessing and honesty will do more than artificial opinions!

Strength of social proof

Remaining in the circle of marketing strategy based on recommendations, it is also worth mentioning proof of social equity. The point is that if the customer recognizes that other consumers have chosen the product and express positive opinions about it – they are more likely to make a transaction.

And how to use it in the context of word of mouth marketing? Tools that automate messages related to the so-called social proof that you can use, among others in your online store. It is worth informally informing people who are currently in the e-store about:
– positive opinions about a given product – this is possible thanks to the introduction of a rating system and quoting the most positive in small pop-ups,
– that someone is watching a product that interests them, as well as how many people have already bought it, the number of transactions made that day.

These are, of course, only sample data that can be included in such messages. Their content and frequency should be adapted to the specifics of your e-store. Data related to social proof should also be used in remarketing campaigns.

Word of mouth marketing – is it worth it?

Word-of-mouth marketing (whisper marketing) can have very positive effects on the results your business achieves. Remember, however, that if you want them to be long-term and improve your brand image – you should only focus on the ethical forms of this way of communicating with customers. In this way you will use the power hidden in real gossip. It spreads at lightning speed, not artificially prepared messages. Are you wondering how to translate these assumptions from theory into practice? Do you want to create a coherent marketing strategy, whose element will be communication focused on obtaining opinions and recommendations? We will help you plan and execute a campaign that will inspire your clients’ trust and increase reach.

SEO migration is possible?

Let’s keep uncertainty and start by answering. Yes, it is possible to change the website or completely rebuild it during the positioning contract. Sometimes, it is also strongly recommended or simply necessary to be able to effectively position such a website. The last case does not mean surprises for the customer. We inform you at the stage of inspecting the website before signing the positioning contract that you need to change the website. In individual cases, such a recommendation regarding the site only appeared after signing the contract and transferring access to the site. At that time, the analysis of the website’s construction, possible thanks to the access received, showed that even basic optimization or removal of errors in the website’s construction was not possible (most often it concerned websites built on wizards or proprietary CMS). In our opinion, there was only one fair solution – informing the client about the condition of his website, indicating what can help the website and how it should look new (what should include a good site adapted for positioning), as well as enabling the client to decide whether we are finishing positioning agreement (without contractual penalties, notice periods, etc.) or are we trying to act with current focus, e.g. on external works, hoping that this will bring an effect.

What does website change mean for results?

In this case, a lot depends on what stage of the positioning process we are in and what positions the website to be changed. Here we will present several situations and discuss them in more detail in terms of what the change involves and how it affects the work of a positioning specialist.

The site is high in the results – presence in the top 10 or close – will SEO migration hurt?

This is a situation in which the customer will be particularly interested in whether the change of the website and SEO migration will not cause permanent decreases in position. Unfortunately, no one can guarantee that this undesirable process will not occur. A lot will depend on how Google evaluates the new website. Therefore, we are happy to advise you already at the stage of building a website and indicate what is worth making sure that this “shock” associated with the change is as low as possible. The risk of falls always occurs, it is important that this period of decline is as short as possible, and the site jumps as quickly as possible to the positions occupied by its predecessor (and of course improved its achievements) – this is the task of the positioner. Changing the website each time means the likelihood of a decrease in its visibility and traffic.

It is worth noting here that we are talking about a website that will be available at the same address as the previous version of the website. The new domain – even with a properly made redirect from the previous one, which is high in the search engine results – will not inherit its visibility.

In the case of websites with earned positions, it is worth paying attention to the following issues when changing pages:

– Is the new website similar to the previous one, which was successful in search results – is it similar in structure, is it similar in size or even larger (moving from an extensive website to one page is not a step in a good page in terms of SEO) or category names , subpages etc. are similar. It is worth identifying (with the help of an SEO specialist) in the old website those elements that had a positive impact on the positioning process and include them in the design of the new page. These can be category names containing keywords, including space for text on the home page, blog or news that are an integral part of the website, etc.

– Are the content of the new website containing keywords and an offer that matches the phrases to which the website is clearly visible in the search results? If not, then you can’t expect the new webpage to be clearly visible in the search results for these keywords, as was the case with its predecessor. It happens that the new website appears under the pressure of major changes in the company and its offer, in this case a lot of activities related to the website are basically work from scratch.

– Has the existing content been moved to the new website, is there more or have it been cut off for the needs of the new website, or is it missing at all? The positioners’ attachment to valuable content on the website and their suggestions to place it on the main page or in the descriptions of the categories can only be compared with the zeal of an English teacher speaking to the final grade. If the new website in terms of quantity and quality of content is similar to the previous version, then there is a growing chance that the decreases will not be so severe. Of course, if the offer, the scope of the company’s activity or other important issues have changed, even the best SEO supporting text from the previous version of the page is no longer necessary and must be replaced with something corresponding to the current state of affairs.

– Is the new website available for network robots? This includes issues related to whether the site is running (or how long it has been down), the contents of the robots.txt file, meta robots, or cannonical settings. Even the best new website, which has been sensationally prepared for SEO, will remain invisible if it is not available to Google web robots. As a curiosity, one can give the fact that sometimes (although in very rare cases) it is enough to unblock the availability of the site for network robots to enjoy being in the top 10.

– Access to the website for a positioning specialist. The new website means that the positioner will have to find time to audit it, determine which optimization actions should be implemented first and which may be introduced later. Even a website prepared in accordance with the guidelines of an SEO specialist may require work and corrections, e.g. in optimizing meta tags or redirections. the latter is important because of the links obtained so far. Links to dead pages do not support the site. If these non-working subpages are redirected to subpages that are part of the new site and are available to web robots, then these links are again gaining importance in the context of positioning. The sooner a positioning specialist receives the necessary access to the new page, the sooner he will be able to implement his changes.

The site is in distant positions in SERPs

In the event that the “old” website did not have specific results and was not in the lead, it is important to improve those issues that blocked growth in the past. It is important to identify them as early as possible and indicate what can be improved during the work on the new site (if these were issues that could not be corrected earlier for various reasons). It is also worth pointing out what was valuable in the case of the previous version of the page and ensure that this asset is also used in the new version of the website. This case is devoid of as much result pressure as the website, which is already present in the top 10. It is important here to create a new strategy that takes into account the changes that have occurred within the site.

The source of very low positions (100 positions visible in the report) may also be a penalty from Google on a given website. Changing the website does not mean automatic abolition. An exception may be a situation in which the new version of the website no longer contains an error that responded to the imposition of a penalty. Such situations are, for example, the old page was a threat to the safety of users (a site hacked) or was punished for texts (hidden text, dramatically low quality content, etc.). If the new site does not commit those sins (respectively – it is safe for people visiting it, has good quality text content, etc.), then there is a chance to remove the manual penalty. Manual punishment can be detected using even Google Search Console.

The site has been positioned for a long time

The case of a site that has been positioned for a long time and obtained a large number of links at that time is special. As we mentioned, links leading to dead pages do not support the positioning process. The way to “save” them is to make redirections correctly. This is especially important in relation to naturally obtained links, e.g. in the case of entries recommending on forums and containing a link to a subpage, the positioner cannot edit them and enter a new – correct URL. The link to the redirected subpage is less valuable than the link directly, but it is better than the link to the down page, which does not present value.

The effect of longer positioning can also be an extensive blog section (with internal linking) or a large amount of content added to the page. It’s worth moving them to a new page. If the content was used to perform internal linking, it is worth continuing to use it, but remembering about any corrections in the URLs of the links.