9 September 2010
Picture the scene. FDC has just created the website of your dreams. Its look and feel is exactly what your customers will love and the copy sells every last benefit of your product and service to your customer base.

But the phone hasn’t rung once. And you’ve not been inundated with enquiries from your contacts page. What’s going on?
What about getting to the first page in Google? Or even the 5th, for that matter. Why isn’t your all-new, fantastic website doing its job?
This scenario succinctly describes one of the most common misunderstandings about web design versus SEO. It’s simple:

THEY ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS. BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS, WE CAN OFFER YOU EXPERTISE IN BOTH.

Let’s face it, after you’ve got your website looking the business, it makes sense to get it noticed. Unfortunately, the mere act of posting a website on to the Internet will not notify any of the squillions of web users out there as to your arrival.
You need the write key words, and, most importantly of all, you need LANDING PAGES (also known as microsites) – one of the most underrated elements of Internet marketing. We’ve used it ourselves, and in less than 8 weeks, we found ourselves on page one of Google (from being 100+) for that particular phrase. (Alex- link to the story we did about this a while back)
One client selected the key phrase “theatre tickets”. They started out on the 22nd page of Google, but are now on the first page of Yahoo AND Google. This could be you!
Equally, another selected the key phrase “student homes Derby”. They started outside page 40 on Google, but they’re now enjoying their presence on page two of Google and page one of Yahoo. What have you got to lose?
It’s not an exact science – just because we saw success in two months doesn’t mean it will be the same for you – it could be even quicker, but it could also take longer. We don’t believe in creating false promises, so we always tell people to commit to an ideal six months or so to really see the results. But in many cases, it doesn’t take half this time – it all depends on your industry, the calibre of your competitors, how established on the web your rivals are, and how many competitors you have.
As well as our technical expertise, our other secret weapon is our team of copywriters – every word on your landing page has to inform, educate, persuade and entertain. And as you’ll discover in our next newsletter, having a competent command of the English language (which many of our clients probably have) is NOT the same as skilled copywriting.