Why SEO Is Not a Set and Forget Process

March 12th, 2011

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a massive and wide ranging topic that I have been getting a LOT of questions about lately. The main question tends to be “How do I get myself on the first page of Google” (the answer to which is “how long is a piece of string”) followed by “How much does it cost?

So I will be posting a series of articles here on the Swish Design blog to try and assist clients in getting educated about this topic before they decide how and where to spend their hard earned.

When we’re talking about the cost of SEO, there are two things that need to be addressed:

  1. On page elements (things like your page content, meta tags, page titles etc) and
  2. Off page elements (usually involving getting people to link back to your website)

The following article from Alex at Dejan SEO explains why SEO is not a “set and forget” type process and why it needs to be ongoing to be done right. Unfortunately this costs money … but it’s money that gives you a VERY good return on investment.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Secrets of Search Engine Optimisation

March 8th, 2011

I have been getting a lot of questions lately about Search Engine Optimisation – or more specifically “how do I get my website on the first page of Google results”. This particular question is a “how long is a piece of string” one. For instance – if I wanted to optimise the Swish Design website to get on the first page of Google for the search term “Swish Design Perth”, that’s easy. The same result for the search term “graphic design perth” is much, much harder to achieve. “Graphic design perth” is a very competitive search term whereas there are probably not a lot of companies out there fighting it out to be listed under “Swish Design Perth”. Read the rest of this entry »

Branding – it’s not just about your logo

October 4th, 2010

I have a few pet hates. The tabloid leanings of our local media, the inability of Perth drivers to merge, Telstra, banks … OK, so I have more than a few pet hates! But this particular one has reared its head twice in the last few weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

What do you do for a living?

September 23rd, 2010

It’s a common question, we’ve all heard it … “What do you do for a living?

If you’re a lawyer for a big city firm, then the response “I’m a lawyer for a big city firm” will probably answer that question sufficiently. But if you’re a small business owner, you need to be a little more creative because anyone who asks you that question is a potential “sales person” for your business. Read the rest of this entry »

Is your website converting client referrals?

September 19th, 2010

Businesses big and small are realising the value of having a beautiful, professional website. Probably the conversation I have most in the last month or so is the one where a client has realised the referral value of a website. As most of our clients are small to medium enterprises, they rely on client referrals to generate new business. A website makes it SO EASY for your existing client base to refer your services. Read the rest of this entry »

Who’s your competition

September 3rd, 2010

You may or may not have heard of marketing guru Seth Godin. I subscribe to his blog and his blog yesterday resonated with me!

Basically it highlighted that businesses spend a lot of time examining and analysing their competition … but a lot of us, our biggest competition isn’t necessarily other businesses … it’s apathy. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s in a name?

June 13th, 2010

Probably one of the most important things you need to do when starting a new business is coming up with the name. There are two major things you must take into account when choosing your business name: Read the rest of this entry »

Small business challenge – creating the perfect logo

June 1st, 2010

So you’re about to start up a small business and you need a logo. Or you got a logo done on the cheap a few years ago and it’s terrible and now you have the funds to do it properly!

If you want to get your head around what constitutes a great logo before briefing a design team on your new logo, read on! Read the rest of this entry »