Dorking Cockerel's best knitted attire as town mascot prepares for 10th birthday

The Dorking Cockerel has modelled a beautiful array of knitted items over its 10 years

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/dorking-cockerels-best-knitted-attire-12423521

Woking and Sam Beare Hospice release time-lapse video of building progress of new facility

The charity still have £1.7 million to raise ahead of the opening of the new facility in the Goldsworth Park area of Woking

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-sam-beare-hospice-release-12531733

Council tax referendum: More than 800 county council staff earn more than £50,000 a year, totalling at least £42m

A Freedom of Information request has revealed the county council spends more than £42.2m a year paying employees who earn £50,000-plus

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/council-tax-referendum-844-surrey-12535169

World's first zombie dining experience to be held at G Live

Everything you need to know about sinking your teeth into Guildford's Delectably Dead dining experience

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/worlds-first-zombie-dining-experience-12531147

Walton ringleader jailed as gang caught smuggling millions of cigarettes into UK in hollowed-out table tops

“This was a brazen and well-planned criminal operation aiming to flood the UK with illegal cigarettes" HM Revenues and Customs said

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/walton-ringleader-jailed-gang-caught-12533437

6 holes in roads that left motorists with that sinking feeling

If you thought the potholes in Surrey were bad, just look at the size of some of these road craters!

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/6-holes-roads-left-motorists-7938603

Met Office issues yellow warning for potentially 'very strong winds' as damage to buildings and travel disruption possible

A Met Office spokesperson said there was uncertainty around the forecast, but if strong winds do occur we should expect travel disruption plus damage to buildings and trees

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/met-office-issues-yellow-warning-12534951

New Chertsey Co-op leaflet makes 'weird' mistake

The error from the supermarket had an 86-year-old man in 'fits of laughter'

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/new-chertsey-co-op-leaflet-12531250

Jimmy White 'loses everything' in fire at Epsom home

'The Whirlwind' said his treasured snooker cue was only saved because it was in his car

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/jimmy-white-loses-everything-fire-12536081

Epsom flat fire: Person and cat rescued and 14 others led to safety

Five fire crews attended the incident and a total of 15 residents were evacuated safely

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/epsom-flat-fire-person-cat-12534918

Guildford accident leads to closure of Woodbridge Road

Surrey Police said its officers attended a collision in Woodbridge Road shortly after 5pm on Tuesday

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/guildford-accident-leads-closure-woodbridge-12535758

Ewhurst workshops and barn blaze at Coxlands Estate attended by eight fire crews

"Big clouds of black smoke" could be seen coming from the rural location

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/ewhurst-workshops-barn-blaze-coxlands-12534778

Knife amnesty extended as HUGE weapons handed in at police stations

Bladed items can be handed in without fear of prosecution until February 13

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/knife-amnesty-extended-huge-weapons-12532472

Epsom station police incident: Man charged with assault by beating of rail staff

A 22-year-old man will appear in court on Monday February 20 in connection with the incident

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/epsom-station-police-incident-man-12534682

Jury retires to consider verdict in murder trial

Jahzeel Lewis denies murdering Madala Washington in HMP Coldingley in April 2016

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/jury-retires-consider-verdict-murder-12534253

Premier League star Boyd, Bunce and Berquez in a classic Stevenage v Woking FC clash from 2006

A little more than a decade ago, with the fierce rivalry between the clubs bubbling nicely, it was Boro's turn to get the upper hand in a belter at Broadhall Way

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/premier-league-star-boyd-bunce-12534658

Sinkhole reappers in Woking - less than a year after council blames 'broken sewer connection' for incident in the same area

The sinkhole was first spotted during Tuesday morning’s rush hour traffic at around 8.10am

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/sinkhole-reappers-woking-less-year-12534417

South West Trains incidents: Fatality at New Malden station after man struck by train

Emergency services responded to the incident just before 12.30pm

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/south-west-trains-incidents-fatality-12533839

South West Trains incidents: Fatality at Woking station after man struck by train

Emergency services responded to the incident at Woking station at 12.45pm on Tuesday

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/south-west-trains-incidents-fatality-12533558

Harry Potter Book Night 2017: Spellbinding events near you

A guide to magical events taking place around Surrey and Hampshire on Harry Potter Book Night

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/harry-potter-book-night-2017-12531183

Drake at O2 Arena: Find out about The Boy Meets World Tour including setlist, support act and tickets

Canadian rapper Drake will return to London for an incredible eight shows at the O2 arena - but after rescheduling will they go ahead?

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/drake-o2-arena-find-out-12533179

Yoast SEO 4.2 adds another new language: Dutch

Has spring arrived early? Daffodils bloom in Surrey and it's only January

We've snapped some beautiful early daffodils in Guildford and Esher this week

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/spring-arrived-early-daffodils-bloom-12531938

Rape accused in line for compensation after 'unlawful' Guildford arrest

Following a High Court ruling against Surrey Police, all record of the arrest will be erased from the Police National Computer

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/rape-accused-line-compensation-after-12532439

Guildford Vision Group to outline proposals for town centre regeneration at public meeting

Residents can join the debate live in the town centre or via Get Surrey, which will be live-streaming the event, on Tuesday February 1

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/guildford-vision-group-outline-proposals-12530945

Robyn Mercer murder investigation: West Molesey man charged with falsifying will

Surrey Police says a man from West Molesey has been charged with an offence of fraud by false representation

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/robyn-mercer-murder-investigation-west-12527467

Term-time holiday legal battle reaches Supreme Court

Jon Platt last year won a High Court ruling blocking a £120 fine for taking his daughter on holiday during term time

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/term-time-holiday-legal-battle-12531347

Ed Sheeran and Joe Lycett among stars supporting Red Nose Day 2017

This year's Red Nose Day will take place on Friday March 24

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/ed-sheeran-joe-lycett-among-12530932

Google Search Console Reliability: Webmaster Tools on Trial

Posted by rjonesx.

There are a handful of data sources relied upon by nearly every search engine optimizer. Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) has perhaps become the most ubiquitous. There are simply some things you can do with GSC, like disavowing links, that cannot be accomplished anywhere else, so we are in some ways forced to rely upon it. But, like all sources of knowledge, we must put it to the test to determine its trustworthiness — can we stake our craft on its recommendations? Let's see if we can pull back the curtain on GSC data and determine, once and for all, how skeptical we should be of the data it provides.

Testing data sources

Before we dive in, I think it is worth having a quick discussion about how we might address this problem. There are basically two concepts that I want to introduce for the sake of this analysis: internal validity and external validity.

Internal validity refers to whether the data accurately represents what Google knows about your site.

External validity refers to whether the data accurately represents the web.

These two concepts are extremely important for our discussion. Depending upon the problem we are addressing as SEOs, we may care more about one or another. For example, let's assume that page speed was an incredibly important ranking factor and we wanted to help a customer. We would likely be concerned with the internal validity of GSC's "time spent downloading a page" metric because, regardless of what happens to a real user, if Google thinks the page is slow, we will lose rankings. We would rely on this metric insofar as we were confident it represented what Google believes about the customer's site. On the other hand, if we are trying to prevent Google from finding bad links, we would be concerned about the external validity of the "links to your site" section because, while Google might already know about some bad links, we want to make sure there aren't any others that Google could stumble upon. Thus, depending on how well GSC's sample links comprehensively describe the links across the web, we might reject that metric and use a combination of other sources (like Open Site Explorer, Majestic, and Ahrefs) which will give us greater coverage.

The point of this exercise is simply to say that we can judge GSC's data from multiple perspectives, and it is important to tease these out so we know when it is reasonable to rely upon GSC.

GSC Section 1: HTML Improvements

Of the many useful features in GSC, Google provides a list of some common HTML errors it discovered in the course of crawling your site. This section, located at Search Appearance > HTML Improvements, lists off several potential errors including Duplicate Titles, Duplicate Descriptions, and other actionable recommendations. Fortunately, this first example gives us an opportunity to outline methods for testing both the internal and external validity of the data. As you can see in the screenshot below, GSC has found duplicate meta descriptions because a website has case insensitive URLs and no canonical tag or redirect to fix it. Essentially, you can reach the page from either /Page.aspx or /page.aspx, and this is apparent as Googlebot had found the URL both with and without capitalization. Let's test Google's recommendation to see if it is externally and internally valid.

External Validity: In this case, the external validity is simply whether the data accurately reflects pages as they appear on the Internet. As one can imagine, the list of HTML improvements can be woefully out of date dependent upon the crawl rate of your site. In this case, the site had previously repaired the issue with a 301 redirect.

This really isn't terribly surprising. Google shouldn't be expected to update this section of GSC every time you apply a correction to your website. However, it does illustrate a common problem with GSC. Many of the issues GSC alerts you to may have already been fixed by you or your web developer. I don't think this is a fault with GSC by any stretch of the imagination, just a limitation that can only be addressed by more frequent, deliberate crawls like Moz Pro's Crawl Audit or a standalone tool like Screaming Frog.

Internal Validity: This is where things start to get interesting. While it is unsurprising that Google doesn't crawl your site so frequently as to capture updates to your site in real-time, it is reasonable to expect that what Google has crawled would be reflected accurately in GSC. This doesn't appear to be the case.

By executing an info:http://concerning-url query in Google with upper-case letters, we can determine some information about what Google knows about the URL. Google returns results for the lower-case version of the URL! This indicates that Google both knows about the 301 redirect correcting the problem and has corrected it in their search index. As you can imagine, this presents us with quite a problem. HTML Improvement recommendations in GSC not only may not reflect changes you made to your site, it might not even reflect corrections Google is already aware of. Given this difference, it almost always makes sense to crawl your site for these types of issues in addition to using GSC.

GSC Section 2: Index Status

The next metric we are going to tackle is Google's Index Status, which is supposed to provide you with an accurate number of pages Google has indexed from your site. This section is located at Google Index > Index Status. This particular metric can only be tested for internal validity since it is specifically providing us with information about Google itself. There are a couple of ways we could address this...

1. We could compare the number provided in GSC to site: commands
2. We could compare the number provided in GSC to the number of internal links to the homepage in the internal links section (assuming 1 link to homepage from every page on the site)

We opted for both. The biggest problem with this particular metric is being certain what it is measuring. Because GSC allows you to authorize the http, https, www, and non-www version of your site independently, it can be confusing as to what is included in the Index Status metric.

We found that when carefully applied to ensure no crossover of varying types (https vs http, www vs non-www), the Index Status metric seemed to be quite well correlated with the site:site.com query in Google, especially on smaller sites. The larger the site, the more fluctuation we saw in these numbers, but this could be accounted for by approximations performed by the site: command.

We found the link count method to be difficult to use, though. Consider the graphic above. The site in question has 1,587 pages indexed according to GSC, but the home page to that site has 7,080 internal links. This seems highly unrealistic, as we were unable to find a single page, much less the majority of pages, with 4 or more links back to the home page. However, given the consistency with the site: command and GSC's Index Status, I believe this is more of a problem with the way internal links are represented than with the Index Status metric.

I think it is safe to conclude that the Index Status metric is probably the most reliable one available to us in regards to the number of pages actually included in Google's index.

GSC Section 3: Internal Links

The Internal Links section found under Search Traffic > Internal Links seems to be rarely used, but can be quite insightful. If External Links tells Google what others think is important on your site, then Internal Links tell Google what you think is important on your site. This section once again serves as a useful example of knowing the difference between what Google believes about your site and what is actually true of your site.

Testing this metric was fairly straightforward. We took the internal links numbers provided by GSC and compared them to full site crawls. We could then determine whether Google's crawl was fairly representative of the actual site.

Generally speaking, the two were modestly correlated with some fairly significant deviation. As an SEO, I find this incredibly important. Google does not start at your home page and crawl your site in the same way that your standard site crawlers do (like the one included in Moz Pro). Googlebot approaches your site via a combination of external links, internal links, sitemaps, redirects, etc. that can give a very different picture. In fact, we found several examples where a full site crawl unearthed hundreds of internal links that Googlebot had missed. Navigational pages, like category pages in the blog, were crawled less frequently, so certain pages didn't accumulate nearly as many links in GSC as one would have expected having looked only at a traditional crawl.

As search marketers, in this case we must be concerned with internal validity, or what Google believes about our site. I highly recommend comparing Google's numbers to your own site crawl to determine if there is important content which Google determines you have ignored in your internal linking.

GSC Section 4: Links to Your Site

Link data is always one of the most sought-after metrics in our industry, and rightly so. External links continue to be the strongest predictive factor for rankings and Google has admitted as much time and time again. So how does GSC's link data measure up?

In this analysis, we compared the links presented to us by GSC to those presented by Ahrefs, Majestic, and Moz for whether those links are still live. To be fair to GSC, which provides only a sampling of links, we only used sites that had fewer than 1,000 total backlinks, increasing the likelihood that we get a full picture (or at least close to it) from GSC. The results are startling. GSC's lists, both "sample links" and "latest links," were the lowest-performing in terms of "live links" for every site we tested, never once beating out Moz, Majestic, or Ahrefs.

I do want to be clear and upfront about Moz's performance in this particular test. Because Moz has a smaller total index, it is likely we only surface higher-quality, long-lasting links. Our out-performing Majestic and Ahrefs by just a couple of percentage points is likely a side effect of index size and not reflective of a substantial difference. However, the several percentage points which separate GSC from all 3 link indexes cannot be ignored. In terms of external validity — that is to say, how well this data reflects what is actually happening on the web — GSC is out-performed by third-party indexes.

But what about internal validity? Does GSC give us a fresh look at Google's actual backlink index? It does appear that the two are consistent insofar as rarely reporting links that Google is already aware are no longer in the index. We randomly selected hundreds of URLs which were "no longer found" according to our test to determine if Googlebot still had old versions cached and, uniformly, that was the case. While we can't be certain that it shows a complete set of Google's link index relative to your site, we can be confident that Google tends to show only results that are in accord with their latest data.

GSC Section 5: Search Analytics

Search Analytics is probably the most important and heavily utilized feature within Google Search Console, as it gives us some insight into the data lost with Google's "Not Provided" updates to Google Analytics. Many have rightfully questioned the accuracy of the data, so we decided to take a closer look.

Experimental analysis

The Search Analytics section gave us a unique opportunity to utilize an experimental design to determine the reliability of the data. Unlike some of the other metrics we tested, we could control reality by delivering clicks under certain circumstances to individual pages on a site. We developed a study that worked something like this:

1. Create a series of nonsensical text pages.
2. Link to them from internal sources to encourage indexation.
3. Use volunteers to perform searches for the nonsensical terms, which inevitably reveal the exact-match nonsensical content we created.
4. Vary the circumstances under which those volunteers search to determine if GSC tracks clicks and impressions only in certain environments.
5. Use volunteers to click on those results.
6. Record their actions.
7. Compare to the data provided by GSC.

We decided to check 5 different environments for their reliability:

1. User performs search logged into Google in Chrome
2. User performs search logged out, incognito in Chrome
3. User performs search from mobile
4. User performs search logged out in Firefox
5. User performs the same search 5 times over the course of a day

We hoped these variants would answer specific questions about the methods Google used to collect data for GSC. We were sorely and uniformly disappointed.

Experimental results

Method	Delivered	GSC Impressions	GSC Clicks
Logged In Chrome	11	0	0
Incognito	11	0	0
Mobile	11	0	0
Logged Out Firefox	11	0	0
5 Searches Each	40	2	0

GSC recorded only 2 impressions out of 84, and absolutely 0 clicks. Given these results, I was immediately concerned about the experimental design. Perhaps Google wasn't recording data for these pages? Perhaps we didn't hit a minimum number necessary for recording data, only barely eclipsing that in the last study of 5 searches per person?

Unfortunately, neither of those explanations made much sense. In fact, several of the test pages picked up impressions by the hundreds for bizarre, low-ranking keywords that just happened to occur at random in the nonsensical tests. Moreover, many pages on the site recorded very low impressions and clicks, and when compared with Google Analytics data, did indeed have very few clicks. It is quite evident that GSC cannot be relied upon, regardless of user circumstance, for lightly searched terms. It is, by this account, not externally valid — that is to say, impressions and clicks in GSC do not reliably reflect impressions and clicks performed on Google.

As you can imagine, I was not satisfied with this result. Perhaps the experimental design had some unforeseen limitations which a standard comparative analysis would uncover.

Comparative analysis

The next step I undertook was comparing GSC data to other sources to see if we could find some relationship between the data presented and secondary measurements which might shed light on why the initial GSC experiment had reflected so poorly on the quality of data. The most straightforward comparison was that of GSC to Google Analytics. In theory, GSC's reporting of clicks should mirror Google Analytics's recording of organic clicks from Google, if not identically, at least proportionally. Because of concerns related to the scale of the experimental project, I decided to first try a set of larger sites.

Unfortunately, the results were wildly different. The first example site received around 6,000 clicks per day from Google Organic Search according to GA. Dozens of pages with hundreds of organic clicks per month, according to GA, received 0 clicks according to GSC. But, in this case, I was able to uncover a culprit, and it has to do with the way clicks are tracked.

GSC tracks a click based on the URL in the search results (let's say you click on /pageA.html). However, let's assume that /pageA.html redirects to /pagea.html because you were smart and decided to fix the casing issue discussed at the top of the page. If Googlebot hasn't picked up that fix, then Google Search will still have the old URL, but the click will be recorded in Google Analytics on the corrected URL, since that is the page where GA's code fires. It just so happened that enough cleanup had taken place recently on the first site I tested that GA and GSC had a correlation coefficient of just .52!

So, I went in search of other properties that might provide a clearer picture. After analyzing several properties without similar problems as the first, we identified a range of approximately .94 to .99 correlation between GSC and Google Analytics reporting on organic landing pages. This seems pretty strong.

Finally, we did one more type of comparative analytics to determine the trustworthiness of GSC's ranking data. In general, the number of clicks received by a site should be a function of the number of impressions it received and at what position in the SERP. While this is obviously an incomplete view of all the factors, it seems fair to say that we could compare the quality of two ranking sets if we know the number of impressions and the number of clicks. In theory, the rank tracking method which better predicts the clicks given the impressions is the better of the two.

Call me unsurprised, but this wasn't even close. Standard rank tracking methods performed far better at predicting the actual number of clicks than the rank as presented in Google Search Console. We know that GSC's rank data is an average position which almost certainly presents a false picture. There are many scenarios where this is true, but let me just explain one. Imagine you add new content and your keyword starts at position 80, then moves to 70, then 60, and eventually to #1. Now, imagine you create a different piece of content and it sits at position 40, never wavering. GSC will report both as having an average position of 40. The first, though, will receive considerable traffic for the time that it is in position 1, and the latter will never receive any. GSC's averaging method based on impression data obscures the underlying features too much to provide relevant projections. Until something changes explicitly in Google's method for collecting rank data for GSC, it will not be sufficient for getting at the truth of your site's current position.

Reconciliation

So, how do we reconcile the experimental results with the comparative results, both the positives and negatives of GSC Search Analytics? Well, I think there are a couple of clear takeaways.

1. Impression data is misleading at best, and simply false at worst: We can be certain that all impressions are not captured and are not accurately reflected in the GSC data.
2. Click data is proportionally accurate: Clicks can be trusted as a proportional metric (ie: correlates with reality) but not as a specific data point.
3. Click data is useful for telling you what URLs rank, but not what pages they actually land on.

Understanding this reconciliation can be quite valuable. For example, if you find your click data in GSC is not proportional to your Google Analytics data, there is a high probability that your site is utilizing redirects in a way that Googlebot has not yet discovered or applied. This could be indicative of an underlying problem which needs to be addressed.

Final thoughts

Google Search Console provides a great deal of invaluable data which smart webmasters rely upon to make data-driven marketing decisions. However, we should remain skeptical of this data, like any data source, and continue to test it for both internal and external validity. We should also pay careful attention to the appropriate manners in which we use the data, so as not to draw conclusions that are unsafe or unreliable where the data is weak. Perhaps most importantly: verify, verify, verify. If you have the means, use different tools and services to verify the data you find in Google Search Console, ensuring you and your team are working with reliable data. Also, there are lots of folks to thank here -Michael Cottam, Everett Sizemore, Marshall Simmonds, David Sottimano, Britney Muller, Rand Fishkin, Dr. Pete and so many more. If I forgot you, let me know!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/5237932

Surrey street lights switch-off: Call to keep Woking lit in speeding problem roads

In October the county council approved the switching off of 44,000 street lights between midnight and 5am but the scheme has been delayed in most boroughs

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-street-lights-switch-off-12530785

9 notorious roundabouts that Surrey motorists just love to hate

If you drive in Surrey you really do need to keep your wits about you - not least at any one of these particular roundabouts...

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/nine-notorious-roundabouts-surrey-drivers-12162998

9 of Surrey Police's biggest investigations and incidents over the years

From the 'Guildford Guy Riots' in the 1800s through to two months of storms and severe flooding during winter 2013/14

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/nine-surrey-polices-biggest-investigations-12529367

Locked up in Surrey: See the county's criminals jailed during January 2017

Get Surrey continues to profile the efforts of the police and the courts to bring the county's worst offenders to justice

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/locked-up-surrey-see-countys-12527759

Valentine's Day: Best flight offers from easyJet, Thomson and British Airways for your romantic getaway

Gatwick and Heathrow passengers may want to make the most of these fare deals for an exciting 2017 Valentine's Day

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/valentines-day-best-flight-offers-12526938

Mum shocked after finding dog poo smeared all over play area in Sandhurst

Hannah Gibson took her children to the park, only to find open bags of dog poo all over the slides

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/mother-two-shocked-after-finding-12518089

Donald Trump gets makeover as graffiti artist admits it was 'nice to portray him as a pig'

"Everyone recognises him as someone not particularly liked - everyone knew it was him, we didn’t need much context," one of the artists said

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/donald-trump-gets-makeover-graffiti-12530064

Godalming Run 'bigger and better than ever' - so book early

"It grows year on year as people spread the word," said vice-chairman of Sport Godalming, Michael O'Sullivan

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/sport/other-sport/godalming-run-bigger-better-ever-12528971

Ash Vale 'medical episode' sees driver found unconscious at the wheel of vehicle

The male driver was taken in a serious condition to Frimley Park Hospital

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/ash-vale-medical-episode-sees-12529803

IKEA 'not currently considering' bringing new store to Surrey

So you'll just have to make do with travelling out of the county or shop online!

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/ikea-not-currently-considering-bringing-12519153

Woking family raises funds for three-legged dog left without food and water

Caramel was found with six puppies and now her adoptive family are trying to raise funds for her treatment

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-family-raises-funds-three-12528176

Woking stabbing: Police appeal to trace potential witnesses

Three teenagers have now been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the incident

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-stabbing-police-appeal-trace-12529019

Homeless people 'attacked with machetes and knives as drug-related violence increases' in Camberley

The town's homeless shelter is claiming that "drug dealers are ruining the town" and must be stopped

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/homeless-people-attacked-machetes-knives-12529320

Antonio Banderas taken to hospital after suffering chest pains at Cobham home

The Hollywood screen star moved to Surrey in 2015 to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/antonio-banderas-taken-hospital-after-12528660

Heathrow campaigners fail in High Court third runway challenge

A coalition of councils and Greenpeace had sought action against the backing of a third runway, claiming it was 'unlawful'

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/heathrow-campaigners-fail-high-court-12528391

London Waterloo upgrade: Improvement works will suspend direct commuter services from Surrey Heath stations throughout August

Travellers from Bagshot, Camberley and Frimley face changes at Ascot in August, during first phase of £800m scheme

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/london-waterloo-upgrade-improvement-works-12527915

Woking town centre roadworks: Drivers advised to be 'extra vigilant' for emergency services in congestion

Councillor Ann-Marie Barker raised concern for emergency service access as Woking roadworks began

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-town-centre-roadworks-drivers-12527423

Ask Yoast: nofollow layered navigation links?

Child, 3, suffers broken bone after being hit by car in Ash

Surrey Police is appealing for witnesses as officers investigate the collision in Shawfield Road

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/child-3-suffers-broken-bone-12527493

Man jailed for serious sexual assault at West Byfleet Golf Club

Paul Gardner denied one count of sexual assault by penetration but was convicted by a jury in December 2016

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/man-jailed-serious-sexual-assault-12527039

A308 London Road in Staines to reopen after burst water main repairs

The route out of town was closed during Monday morning rush hour after the leak on Sunday

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/a308-london-road-staines-reopen-12527186

Abinger Hammer crash: Car overturned on A25 on driver's first day after passing test

The driver was 'unbelievably' unharmed after the incident on the A25 on Saturday night (January 28)

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/abinger-hammer-crash-car-overturned-12526597

Epsom station police incident as railway staff member assaulted

A man was arrested at the scene and taken into custody after the incident on Sunday (January 29)

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/epsom-station-police-incident-railway-12526327

Woking business 'Invotra' rated as a Top 100 apprenticeship employer

Top 100 Apprenticeships recognises excellence in businesses that employ apprentices

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-business-invotra-rated-top-12516859

A308 Staines closure: Burst water main shuts road in one direction during rush hour

Diversions were put in place as emergency repairs were carried out on the road

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/a308-staines-closure-burst-water-12525656

Fairoaks Garden Village: What's going on at the community planning weekend?

An event is being held to give neighbours a say on the Fairoaks Garden Village development

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/fairoaks-garden-village-whats-going-12525473

Donald Trump Muslim ban: Petition to stop US President's state visit to UK gains more than 963,000 signatures in 24 hours

Almost 20,000 Surrey residents showed their opposition to the ban in just 24 hours

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/donald-trump-muslim-ban-petition-12525485

Cute wildcat kittens and mum help Oxted photographer scoop wildlife picture award

The image of Kendra the Scottish wildcat and her young was taken at the British Wildlife Centre in Lingfield

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/cute-wildcat-kittens-mum-help-12525410

Why You Should Steal My Daughter's Playbook for Effective Email Outreach

Posted by ronell-smith

During the holidays, my youngest daughter apparently had cabin fever after being in the house for a couple of days. While exiting the bedroom, my wife found the note below on the floor, after the former had slyly slid it under the door.

Though tired and not really feeling like leaving the house, we had to reward the youngster for her industriousness. And her charm.

Her effective "outreach" earned plaudits from my wife.

"At least she did it the right way," she remarked. "She cleaned her room, washed dishes, and read books all day, obviously part of an attempt to make it hard for us to say no. After all she did, though, she earned it."

Hmm...

She earned it.

Can you say as much about your outreach?

We're missing out on a great opportunity

Over the last few months, I've been thinking a lot about outreach, specifically email outreach.

It initially got my attention because I see it so badly handled, even by savvy marketers.

But I didn't fully appreciate the significance of the problem until I started thinking about the resulting impact of bad outreach, particularly since it remains one of the best, most viable means of garnering attention, traffic, and links to our websites.

What I see most commonly is a disregard of the needs of the person on the other end of the email.

Too often, it's all about the "heavy ask" as opposed to the warm touch.

• Heavy ask: "Hi Ronell ... We haven't met. ... Could you share my article?"
• Warm touch: "Hi Ronell ... I enjoyed your Moz post. ... We're employing similar tactics at my brand."

That's it.

You're likely saying to yourself, "But Ronell, the second person didn't get anything in return."

I beg to differ. The first person likely lost me, or whomever else they reach out to to using similar tactics; the second person will remain on my radar.

Outreach is too important to be left to chance or poor etiquette. A few tweaks here and there can help our teams perform optimally.

#1: Build rapport: Be there in a personal way before you need them

The first no-no of effective outreach comes right out of PR 101: Don't let the first time I learn of you or your brand be when you need me. If the brand you hope to attain a link from is worthwhile, you should be on their radar well in advance of the ask.

Do your research to find out who the relevant parties are at the brand, then make it your business to learn about them, via social media and any shared contacts you might have.

Then reach out to them... to say hello. Nothing more.

This isn't the time to ask for anything. You're simply making yourself known, relevant, and potentially valuable down the road.

Notice how, in the example below, the person emailing me NEVER asks for anything?

The author did three things that played big. She...

• Mentioned my work, which means she'd done her homework
• Highlighted work she'd done to create a post
• Didn't assume I would be interested in her content (we'll discuss in greater detail below)

Hiring managers like to say, "A person should never be surprised at getting fired," meaning they should have some prior warning.

Similarly, for outreach to be most effective, the person you're asking for a link from should know of you/your brand in advance.

Bonuses: Always, always, always use "thank you" instead of "thanks." The former is far more thoughtful and sincere, while the latter can seem too casual and unfeeling.

#2: Be brief, be bold, be gone

One of my favorite lines from the Greek tragedy Antigone, by Sophocles, is "Tell me briefly — not in some lengthy speech."

If your pitch is more than three paragraphs, go back to the drawing board.

You're trying to pique their interest, to give them enough to comfortably go on, not bore them with every detail.

The best outreach messages steal a page from the PR playbook:

• They respect the person's time
• They show a knowledge of the person's brand, content, and interests with regard to coverage
• They make the person's job easier (i.e., something the person would deem useful but not necessarily easily accessible)

We must do the same.

• Be brief in highlighting the usefulness of what you offer and how it helps them in some meaningful way
• Be bold in declaring your willingness to help their brand as much as your own
• Be gone by exiting without spilling every single needless detail

Bonus: Be personal by using the person's name at least once in the text since it fosters a greatest level of personalization and thoughtfulness (most people enjoy hearing their names):

"I read your blog frequently, Jennifer."

#3: Understand that it's not about you

During my time as a newspaper business reporter and book reviewer, nothing irked me more than having people assume that because they valued what their brand offered, I must feel the same way.

They were wrong 99 percent of the time.

Outreach in our industry is rife with this if-it's-good-for-me-it's-good-for-you logic.

Instead of approaching a potential link opportunity from the perspective of "How do I influence this party to grant me a link," a better approach is to consider "What's obviously in it for them?"

(I emphasize "obviously" because we often pretend the benefit is obvious when it's typically anything but.)

Step back and consider all the things that'll be in play as they consider a link from you:

• Relationship - Do they they know you/know of you?
• Brand - Is your brand reputable?
• Content - Does your company create and share quality content?
• This content - Is the content you're hoping for a link for high-quality and relevant?

In the best case scenario, you should pass this test with flying colors. But at the very least you should be able tp successfully counter any of these potential objections.

#4: Don't assume anything

Things never go well when an outreach email begins "I knew you'd be interested in this."

Odds suggest you aren't prescient, which can only mean you're wrong.

What's more, if you did know I was interested in it, I should not be learning about the content after it was created. You should involved me from the beginning.

Therefore, instead of assuming I'll find your content valuable, ensure that you're correct by enlisting their help during the content creation process:

• Topic - Find out what they're working on or see as the biggest issues that deserve attention
• Contribution - Ask if they'd like to be part of the content you create
• Ask about others - Enlist their help to find other potential influencers for your content. Doing so gives your content and your outreach legs (we discuss in greater detail below)

#5: Build a network

Michael Michalowicz, via his 2012 book The Pumpkin Plan, shared an outreach tactic I've been using for years in my own work. Instead of asking customers to recommend other customers for a computer service company he formerly owned, he asked his customers to recommend other non-competing vendors.

Genius!

Whereas a customer is likely to recommend another customer or two, a vendor is likely able to recommend many dozens of customers who could use his service.

This is instructive for outreach.

Rather than asking the person you're outreaching to for recommendations of other marketers who could be involved in the project, a better idea might be to ask them "What are some of the other publications or blogs you've worked with?"

You could then conduct a site search, peruse the content the former has been a part of, then use this information as a future guide for the types and quality of content you should be producing to get on the radar for influencers and brands.

After all, for outreach to be sustainable and most effective, it must be scalable in an easy-to-replicate (by the internal team, at least) fashion.

Bonus: Optimally, your outreach should not be scalable — for anyone but you/your team. That is, it's best to have a unique-to-your-brand process that's tough to achieve or acquire, which means it's far less likely others will know about, copy or use it or one like it.

Awaken your inner child, er, PR person

Elements of the five tips shared above have been, singularly, on my mind for the better part of two years. However, they only coalesced after I read the note my daughter shared, primarily because her message delivered on each point so effectively.

She didn't wait until she needed something to get on our radar; never over-sold the message; was selfless in realizing we all likely needed to get out the house; didn't assume we were on the same page; and activated her network by first sharing the note with her sister first, and, through her mom, me.

Now, the question we must all ask ourselves is if the methods we employ as effective?

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/9375/5231439

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/chobham-woman-vows-continue-14-12517841

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/push-boat-out-valentines-day-12510253

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/first-year-very-positive-base-12517901

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/council-tax-referendum-surrey-readers-12524458

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/new-development-former-majestic-house-12504200

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/mp-kwasi-kwarteng-opposed-aggressive-12524664

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/police-appeal-information-after-altercation-12525049

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/9-things-you-think-you-12522944

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/archives-billy-smarts-circus-came-12515508

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/50-best-pubs-surrey-casual-12510997

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/ever-wondered-how-places-woking-12485251

Railway station death, A3 van driver sex act and IKEA new store plans among Get Surrey's most read stories of the week

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/railway-station-death-a3-van-12524215

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/stolen-jackhuahua-puppy-tandridge-sparks-12523978

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/railway-disruption-major-lines-surrey-12458421

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/roadworks-planned-major-routes-south-11560122

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/lightwater-house-fire-fundraising-page-12523692

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/donald-trump-muslim-ban-controversial-12523560

Reigate house fire: Heartfelt tribute paid 'gentle fella' Tiago Nunes and family killed in devastating blaze

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/reigate-house-fire-heartfelt-tribute-12523626

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/donald-trump-muslim-ban-everything-12523493

Woking Ian Allan Motors garage 'with regret and sadness' closes doors after 26 years

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-ian-allan-motors-garage-12523377

Staircase collapse leaves five injured at Edenbridge Kent and Surrey Golf and County Club

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/staircase-collapse-leaves-five-injured-12523280

See incredible behind-the-scenes footage from the Royal Mint where Britain's new £1 coins are being made

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/see-incredible-behind-scenes-footage-12523126

Cheryl and Liam Payne to raise child at One Direction star's Surrey mansion

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/cheryl-liam-payne-raise-child-12523059

Cycling in Surrey: Government pledges £7.5m to encourage people across south east to ditch cars and get in the saddle

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/cycling-surrey-government-pledges-75m-12522966

Surrey car parking charges: See how prices have changed over past 12 months

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-car-parking-charges-see-12521637

Crime archives: Surrey Executions book reveals man who confessed to murdering his fiancé

Get Surrey has picked out some gruesome deaths from Martin Baggoley's book on 19th century executions in the county

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/crime-archives-surrey-executions-book-12500985

Watch McLaren ace Jenson Button swap track for the skies as he pilots British Airways flight simulator

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/watch-mclaren-ace-jenson-bunton-12521297

From the archives: Orphaned baby-bunny 'luckiest alive' after escaping coal fire

The article appeared in The Advertiser in 1977 and described the 'real life drama' of baby Hutch - named after a character from the famous TV series

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/archives-orphaned-baby-bunny-luckiest-12516208

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/11-things-you-think-youre-12515570

Chinese New Year: Guildford and Woking transformed as weekend of celebrations begins

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/chinese-new-year-guildford-woking-12521903

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/haslemere-national-trust-go-wassailing-12521626

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-man-run-naked-through-12521367

Eurostar introduces Valentine’s Day e-vouchers - great for a romantic getaway

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/eurostar-introduces-valentines-day-e-12510015

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surbiton-crescent-motorist-wins-kingston-12521102

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-hilton-development-council-leader-12520897

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/council-tax-referendum-town-halls-12520732

Southern Rail passengers 'abandoned' at freezing Leatherhead railway station

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/southern-rail-passengers-abandoned-freezing-12520811

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-town-centre-roadworks-what-12520605

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-peregrine-falcon-family-star-12520483

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/things-you-might-not-know-12514868

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/councils-call-ban-lorry-drivers-12520358

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/disgusting-arson-attack-leatherhead-sees-12520346

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/john-hurt-harry-potter-alien-12520309

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/swimming-pool-set-egham-plans-12443132

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/fairoaks-garden-village-plans-community-12520275

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/reigate-house-fire-fundraising-page-12520109

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-outer-space-what-look-12512891

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/15-things-you-think-you-12516686

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-street-lights-switch-off-12184910

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-street-lights-switch-off-12399603

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/street-lights-switch-off-reasons-12400385

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/merstham-man-who-stole-37-12519949

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/weekend-weather-forecast-indoor-activities-12519706

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/council-tax-rise-referendum-scale-12517762

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/haslemere-rush-hour-crash-involving-12518778

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/tube-strike-new-four-day-12519290

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from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/london-prosecco-festival-everything-you-12518104

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How to Choose a Good SEO Company for Your Business or Website - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by randfish

When it comes to choosing a reputable company to manage your SEO, there's both a right way and a wrong way to go about the hiring process. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand identifies common pitfalls to avoid and advice to take when it comes to selecting an agency or consultant to optimize your site for search engines. SEOs, take note: there are great ideas here for how to market yourselves to clients, as well!

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high-resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week we're going to chat about how to choose a good SEO company, a consultant or an agency. It could be an independent person. What I want to do as we get into this is help you to understand some of the mechanics behind SEO consulting work. This is a critical hire, because if SEO is important to your business, then the choice of which company or person to use is going to have a huge impact, probably one of the biggest impacts on whether you get great results. There are a bunch of mistakes that people make when they go down this selecting an SEO company path.

Don't make these mistakes

Mistake #1: Using Google as your filter

The logic makes a lot of sense here if you think about it simplistically. Simplistic thinking is a good SEO company will do a great job ranking for SEO company or SEO consultant or SEO consultant plus my city name. So if I'm looking for the best SEO in Seattle, I have only to Google "best SEO Seattle" and surely the number-one company will show up at the top. But, unfortunately, what happens is most of the very good companies, the ones that are in high demand, the ones that do consistently great work and get great referrals, they don't actually need to rank here. They're overwhelmed with clients all the time because their clients refer them to people and lots of people in their network refer folks to them. They have a high retention of clients. Lots of people are very satisfied. They're making plenty of money and they're incredibly busy, so they don't spend any work optimizing their own website to get new clients.

As a result, you are often left with some of the dregs here. Many of the companies that rank well for best SEO plus city name or best SEO plus a region or plus a particular specialty, like best ecommerce SEO, are not the best. They are, in fact, the folks who are simply without any client work and so they're concentrating all their energy on trying to get new clients. Sometimes, maybe, you can find some good folks in there. It's just not a great filter.

Mistake #2: Trusting "Top SEO" lists

Many people will search for "best SEOs" or "best SEO consultants" or "best SEO companies," "best SEO companies United States." They'll get to a website like, I don't know, bestSEOs.com or topSEOs.com. There are a number of these types of websites that are essentially just aggregators. Their business model is they try and rank for terms like this, and then they sell those listings, the listings on their page, to SEO firms and companies. Back when Moz was a consulting company many, many years ago, they'd call us up and they'd say, "Hey, do you want to be number 3, we can make you number 3 on the best SEO companies list for $20,000 a year. Or we can make you number 1, but you're going to have to pay $75,000 a year."

That is not a great... I mean it's a great model for them. Don't get me wrong. But that pay-to-play scheme is not trustworthy for you as a consumer of SEO companies. You would never trust someone that said, "Oh well, what's the best restaurant in this particular region?" You'd never go to a list where the restaurants just paid. That would give you the conglomerates and the people who can afford to spend the most and the worst. Don't trust those types of lists.

There are a few lists, there are a few websites, places like getcredo.com run by John Doherty. There's obviously Moz's recommended SEO list, which is just my personal recommendations and the recommendations of my network. You can't pay to be on there. You can't pay to be listed. Some of those are more trustworthy. We'll try and link to a few of those good ones at the end of this whiteboard.

Mistake #3: Believing there's a "secret sauce"

Mistake number three is believing the sales pitch that unfortunately many I'm going to say low-quality SEO consultants use, which is there's a secret sauce. There are no secret sauces in SEO. If you hear like, "This is how Google works blah, blah, blah, and then here's how we do our secret optimization techniques. I can't tell you what those are. It's a proprietary methodology, but it works really well," that's baloney. You should reject that. If you ask, "How do you do it," and they say, "I'm sorry I can't tell you, it's a secret or it's proprietary," that is a very, very bad sign. No one has a secret proprietary process. SEO is a very, very open field. It's well understood. It has origins in a lot of secrecy, but that is not the way it is today and you should never accept that as an answer. That is a red flag.

My recommended process for choosing an SEO company:

Step 1

I want you to establish, sit down with your team, with your CEO, with your executive team, your board, whoever you've got, and figure out the goals you're trying to achieve with SEO. Why do you want to do SEO? Why do you want to rank organically for keywords? Then, figure out how you're going to judge success versus failure. In this process, there are good goals and bad goals.

Good goals:

• I want to get in front of a lot of people who are researching this, and so we need traffic from these specific groups. I know that they perform searches for this. Great.
• We're trying to boost revenue, and we're trying to boost it through new sales and SEO is a sales driving channel. Fine, great.
• We're trying to boost downloads or free sign-ups or free trials. Also a fine goal.
• We're trying to boost sentiment for our brand. Maybe if you Googled some of our branded terms today, there are some poor reviews, there's lots of good reviews that rank below them, and we want to push the good reviews up and the bad reviews down. Fine. Sentiment, that could be something you're driving as well. You know a lot of people are researching your brand or branded terms. Those are all good goals.

Bad goals:

• We just want traffic, more traffic. Why? Well, because we want it. Terrible, terrible goal. Traffic is not a goal in and of itself. If you say, "Well, we want more traffic because we know search traffic converts well for us and here are the statistics on it," fine, terrific. Now it's a revenue driving thing.
• Rankings alone, unfortunately this is a vanity thing that many people have where they want to rank for something simply because they want to rank for it. Usually a bad sign for SEO companies considering clients. You shouldn't have that on your goals list. That's not a positive goal.
• Beating a particular competitor out for specific keywords or phrases. Again, not a great goal. Doesn't drive directly to revenue. Doesn't drive directly to organizational goals.
• Vanity metrics. I still see people who are saying, "Hey, does anyone know a great SEO company that can help bring our domain authority up or our Majestic trust flow up or, worst of all, our Google PageRank up?" Google dropped PageRank years ago. It's terrible. Vanity metrics, bad ideas too.

Step 2

Once you have a list of these good goals that you're trying to optimize for, my suggestion is that you should assemble a list of usually three to five is I think sort of the right comfort zone. You can do more if you have the bandwidth to evaluate more, but three to five, at least, consultants or agencies. Those could be by a bunch of criteria. You might say, "Hey, look we really need someone in our region so that we can meet with them in person or at least someone who can fly to us on a regular basis." Maybe that's a requirement for you. Or you might say, "That's not important. Remote is great." Fine, wonderful. You might say something like, "Our price range or our budget is this particular thing."

You want to find whatever those criteria are and make sure you've got a list of three to five folks that you can consider against one another. Have some conversations with them and dig into references.

Good sources:

• Your friends and personal networks and professional networks as well.
• Similar non-competitive companies. You will find that if you're, for example, in a B2B space or in an ecommerce space and there's a non-competitive ecommerce company whom you're friendly with, you can build those relationships. You should certainly already have those relationships. Talking to those folks about who they use and whether they were successful, great way to find some good people.
• Industry insiders. If you're watching Whiteboard Friday here on Moz, chances are good that you follow some great SEO people on Twitter, which is a very popular network for SEOs, or that you read SEO blogs. You can reach out to some of those influential insiders with whom you have a relationship or whose opinion you really like and care about and ask them who they would recommend.

Good questions to ask:

• By the way, I like asking SEO companies: What process are you going to use to accomplish our goals, and why do you use those particular processes? That's a really smart one to start with.
• Ask them about their communication and reporting process. How often? What's their cadence like? What metrics do they report on? What do they need you to collect? Why do they collect those metrics? How do those match up to your goals and how do they align?
• What work and resources will you have to commit internally? You should know that before you go into any arrangement, because it could get very complex. If your SEO company says, "Great here's a list of recommendations," and you say, "Fine, we don't have the development bandwidth, or we don't have the content creation bandwidth, or we don't have the visual or UI or UX exchange bandwidth to make any of those. So what do we do?" Well, now you're road blocked. You should've had that conversation much earlier in time. *By the way, SEO usually requires some intensive resource allotment. So you should plan for that ahead of time.
• What do you do when things aren't working? I love asking that question, and I like asking for specific examples of when things haven't gone right and what they've done to fix that in the past and work around it.
• I like asking broadly. Especially when you open a conversation, especially if you're feeling like, hey I want to get to know this company's approach to SEO and their understanding of Google, you can ask them something like, "Hey, tell me how does Google rank results, and how do you as a company influence them?" You should hear good answers about, yes, this is how Google does things, and here's how we know that and here's how we do our process of influencing those results. That's great.

Step 3

I like to recommend that folks choose on these four things:

1. The trust that you've established with a company. That's through references, through the conversation, through people that you've talked to in your network.
2. Through referrals. If you hear great referrals and you trust those referral sources, that's a wonderful signal.
3. Through communication style match. If your communication style, even if everything else is good, but when you have conversations, you walk away from them feeling a little frustrated, maybe you got the things you needed, but it didn't flow smoothly, I would suggest that maybe that's a cultural mismatch and you should look for another provider.
4. Price and contract structure. Many SEO firms have a contract structure that's month-to-month and that has a certain length of time. You should expect to pay some upfront payment and then some ongoing monthly fee. There's usually a time at which the payment will recur and the contract will renew. It's pretty similar to a lot of other services, consulting types of agreements, so you should expect that. If you're seeing very non-standard stuff, that can be a bad thing sometimes, but not always. A lot of times SEOs have more creative pricing, and that's all right.

Pro tips

Three pro tips:

1. If SEO needs to be a core competency at your company, bring it in-house. An agency or consultant can never do as much with as much resources, with as much communication, as someone in-house can do. Starting with a consultant externally and then bringing someone in-house is a fine way to go.
2. If the quality SEO folks that you're considering are too pricy, my suggestion might be to say, "Okay, how about you just advise us on the work, and we'll hire an in-house person, maybe who's more beginner-level and you coach that person?" That can work well, again especially if you have that budget to bring that person in-house.
3. Remember that SEO is not for everyone. SEO is extremely competitive. Page 1 gets 95% plus of the clicks. The top 3 or 4 results are getting more than 70% of those clicks, 65% or 70%. So a lot of the time, if you can't afford yet to do SEO or to engage in it seriously, it may not be all that valuable to go from ranking on page five for a lot of your key terms to page two or the bottom of page one. Unless you have the budget and the energy to really commit yourself to SEO, it might be a channel you consider later down the road.

All right, everyone, hope you've enjoyed this edition of Whiteboard Friday. Would love to hear your thoughts on how you've picked good SEO companies in the past and the experiences you've had there. We'll see you again next week for another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Take care.

Resources

• Rand's Recommended List
• Moz Local SEO Trusted Providers
• Credo

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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Kasabian announced as second headliner for Reading Festival 2017

Kasabian will join Muse at this year's Reading Festival, it has been announced

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/kasabian-announced-second-headliner-reading-12507721

Plea to review burial charges for children as Elmbridge Borough Council proposes 1.5% increase

"I've had families come up to me saying they don't know how they're going to cope," said Councillor Roy Green

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/plea-review-burial-charges-children-12479989

Vulnerable missing Stanwell man's disappearance 'out of character' say police

Surrey Police say they are concerned for Ben's welfare as he does not have his bank cards, keys or phone with him and his disappearance is "out of character"

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/vulnerable-missing-stanwell-mans-disappearance-12508988

Police launch urgent appeal to trace vulnerable missing Epsom schoolgirl Winnie Maughan

Winnie Maughan did not return home from school on Wednesday evening and police say they are extremely concerned for her welfare

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/police-launch-urgent-appeal-trace-12508915

Claygate Pavilion trust looks ahead after devastating fire as Surrey Police drops criminal damage case

The trust also revealed that demolishing the fire-ravaged pavilion is not required

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/claygate-pavilion-trust-looks-ahead-12508045

Guildford residents left fed up with buses constantly getting stuck in Stoughton street

Residents in Stoughton have called for buses to be re-routed after several incidents of vehicles getting stuck on the narrow street

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/guildford-residents-left-fed-up-12505668

Guildford Vision Group calls for 'development corporation' to drive through regeneration of town centre

GVG chairman John Rigg said: "We want to leave our town a better place for our children and all those who will follow us on"

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/guildford-vision-group-calls-development-12504927

Leatherhead Waitrose finally opening after months of delays

The Church Street store was originally due to open in summer 2016, then November

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/leatherhead-waitrose-finally-opening-after-12508798

Quidditch Premier League try-outs to be held in Clapham

Everything you need to know about the Harry Potter inspired sport launching in the UK this summer

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/quidditch-premier-league-try-outs-12500861

Wildlife Aid Foundation helps hedgehog stuck in wax outside Walton beauty salon

The story had a happy ending despite some serious burns to the animal's leg

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/wildlife-aid-foundation-helps-hedgehog-12508191

Things you might not know happen in Surrey: Ultra white collar boxing

You can next watch the unusual sport at an event in Frimley Green

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/things-you-might-not-know-12508521

Tougher penalties for speeding offences coming into force

The new guidelines come into force on April 24 - and the penalties are a lot tougher

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/tougher-penalties-speeding-offences-coming-12508490

Police give 'prize plum award' to M23 motorist caught driving with iPad in one hand and phone in the other

Despite launching its "It Can Wait" campaign earlier in the week, Surrey Road Police Unit caught the motorist on video on Wednesday

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/police-give-prize-plum-award-12507519

Princess Alice Hospice charity shop hosts musical recitals by former pianist at prestigious Czech dance academy

A former pianist at the Janacek Conservatoire for the Arts in the Czech Republic now entertains customers at an East Molesey charity shop

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/princess-alice-hospice-charity-shop-12506987

Will YOU vote for Surrey County Council's proposed 15% council tax rise?

Council leader David Hodge said the 15% rise would help plug a huge funding hole

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/you-vote-surrey-county-councils-12503401

Council tax rise: Referendum on 15% hike could cost taxpayers up to £300k

Surrey County Council estimates the referendum will cost between £85,000 and £300,000

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/council-tax-rise-referendum-15-12507598

I Love the 90s tour is coming to Wembley Arena and includes Salt N Pepa, Vanilla Ice and Coolio

Get your shell suit out because a night of 90s nostalgia is coming to Wembley Arena in 2017

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/love-90s-tour-coming-wembley-12505719

Thorpe Park's Logger's Leap to remain closed for 2017 for 'redevelopment'

The log flume is currently "under development" but no further details have been released about the future of the ride

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/thorpe-parks-loggers-leap-remain-12504680

Reigate house fire: Surrey Police appeal for potential witnesses in statement at the scene

Inspector Richard Hamlin made the statement at 3pm on Wednesday (January 25)

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/reigate-house-fire-surrey-police-12506501

My bullets are green, but my post doesn’t rank?!

Waitrose recalls Hearty Minestrone soup over fears it contains blue plastic pieces

Shoppers are being told to return the soup to store for a full refund

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/incoming/waitrose-recalls-hearty-minestrone-soup-12506604

Reigate house fire: First picture of young family tragically killed in vicious blaze

Couple Tiago and Adriana Nunes and their young boy, also Tiago, were found dead at their home near Reigate on Tuesday morning

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/reigate-house-fire-first-picture-12506271

Status Quo's Rick Parfitt to be honoured as Woking's Party in the Park returns

Registration is now open for those who want to take part in the exhibition

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/status-quos-rick-parfitt-honoured-12502952

Kodi: What is it? How do I get it? And is it legal? Everything you need to know about the home entertainment system

The boxes have become popular with people who want to watch pay per view sports and the latest films for free - but is this legal?

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/incoming/kodi-what-it-how-it-12505450

Reigate house fire: School confirms death of pupil 'with huge sadness and regret' in letter to parents

North Downs Primary School believes the child who died in the fire was one of its pupils

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/reigate-house-fire-school-confirms-12505234

Michael Gove, eunuchs and Viagra - Surrey MP speaks out during Trident debate

"Unilateralists on the opposition benches who are complaining today are in the position of eunuchs complaining about the cost of Viagra”

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/michael-gove-eunuchs-viagra-surrey-12503721

Reigate house fire: Couple and young son killed in devastating blaze named locally

It is understood the three people killed in a serious house fire on Tuesday were Tiago and Adriana Nunes and their young son, also Tiago

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/reigate-house-fire-couple-young-12504819

South West Trains customer satisfaction rating soars above national average as passengers praise station facilities

From availability of staff and parking at stations, to seating and cleanliness on trains, see the results of the National Rail Passenger Survey

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/south-west-trains-customer-satisfaction-12502897

HMRC releases list of most outlandish expenses which customers have tried to claim, including underwear and pet food

Underwear, international flights, a shed and pet food all feature in the list of rejected claims released by HMRC ahead of the Self Assessment deadline

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/hmrc-releases-list-most-outlandish-12503157

Bear Grylls Survival Academy launches at Cowdray Estate

Have you got what it takes to survive for 24 hours until rescue?

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/bear-grylls-survival-academy-launches-12503423

Southern Rail commuters have their say on the state of the train company

From the availability of staff, to toilets on trains and value for money on ticket prices, see the results of the latest National Rail Passenger Survey for Southern

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/southern-rail-commuters-say-state-12502812

The day Woking FC scored a staggering 14 GOALS

'It doesn’t matter who you play sometimes it is hard to score 14 goals in a game' said the Cards boss

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/day-woking-fc-scored-staggering-12503407

Reigate house fire: Investigation under way after bodies of child and two adults found at fire-ravaged home

Police and fire crews made the discovery shortly after 11am on Tuesday and have launched an investigation into the deaths

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/reigate-house-fire-investigation-under-12503680

Council tax referendum: 65p of every £1 spent by county council goes on vital services for vulnerable residents, says leader

In a video address on Tuesday, SCC leader David Hodge said the number of older people needing care has risen by more than 50% in the past five years

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/council-tax-referendum-65p-every-12502833

Will Ferrell and John C Reilly reportedly shooting new Holmes and Watson film at Hampton Court Palace

Film crews are busy preparing to shoot a feature film at Hampton Court Palace, which is understood to be comedy Holmes and Watson

from getsurrey - News http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/film-news/ferrell-john-c-reilly-reportedly-12502194

Easy Marketing Investments to Improve Your E-Commerce Store

Posted by KaneJamison

At least once or twice per month, I talk to a small e-commerce store owner who wants to invest in content marketing. Often times, I have to break it to them that they’re not ready for content marketing.

You see, before you spend a bunch of time generating traffic from your target audience, it’s important to make sure those visitors get the best experience possible while browsing your store.

So, in this post, I want to give store owners and e-commerce newbies a clear idea of where they can invest their time before investing in more paid and organic traffic to their sites. Many of these can be accomplished for less than $1,000 or a few hours of your time.

With a few small-scale investments you can help drive performance on conversions, SEO, and more.

So what are they?

1. Rewrite Your Weak Product Descriptions
2. Take Better Product Photography
3. Build Lookbooks & Product Collections
4. Start Adding Product Videos
5. Upgrade Your Review Software & Process

Let’s look at these opportunities in detail, and better yet, show you some actual examples of what your site could look like.

Rewrite your weak product descriptions

From product details to features and benefits, product descriptions must pack a lot of information in a short format. You may have overlooked some missed opportunities.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, consider investing in improved product descriptions.

1 - Does your current product page copy speak only to your ideal customer?

If you’ve built buyer personas for your brand, make sure the copy addresses the appropriate persona’s unique pain points and concerns. Bland descriptions meant to appeal to everyone — or just bots — aren’t as effective.

This high chair example from 4moms.com focuses on the three things that matter to their audience: single-handed adjustments, spilt-food prevention, and easy cleanup.

2 - Does your copy focus on benefits rather than features?

You can list features all day long, but customers really want to know how your product will make their life better.

The Amazon Echo sales page does a great job of focusing less on the technical features of the product, and more on the cool things you can do with it.

3 - Are you describing your product with the same words that your customers use?

Using the same language that your customers do will help you better communicate with your target audience in a way that sounds natural for them and touches on their pain points.

A simple way to find these words is to do some reverse engineering. Start by looking at customer reviews and feedback you’ve collected (and those of your main competitors as well) to pick out common words and phrases that satisfied customers are using. From here, you can tie that customer language back into your own descriptions.

I was shopping for a new tent last week and saw this awesome reviewer on Amazon drive home a point that the copywriters had missed. If you read that entire review, the phrase “family tent” is mentioned about 13 times.

But if you read the product description, "family tent" only shows up once. The description fails to mention many of the benefits covered by the reviewer: lots of pockets, sleeping arrangements, ability to catch a breeze but keep the doors closed, etc.

There’s an opportunity here for a competitor in the tent or outdoor space to improve their own product descriptions for the same tent (or even put together a larger guide to family tents).

4 - Are you telling your product’s story?

The folks over at Rogue Brewing understand that the people buying gifts from their website are probably passionate about well-made products, not just well-made beer. Here’s a great example from their site that tells the story of their 28-year search for a decent beer shucker (bottle opener):

Take better product photography

Photography matters. Research from BigCommerce suggests that 67% of consumers consider image quality “very important” when making a purchase online.

Good product photos do more than just show shoppers what you’re selling — they provide context and help customers visualize using your products. Plus, high-quality photos will reduce product returns that happen due to misleading images.

So what can you do to upgrade your product photos?

Smartphones aren't going to cut it

Use a DSLR camera, not your smartphone. Although modern smartphone cameras can take higher resolution photos than ever before, you’ll get better results from a DSLR. Lower-end models start at around $500 — try finding a used body online and spending more money on a better & cost-effective fixed lens that can handle video, too.

Build a cheap lightbox

Create a lightbox for well-lit photos with a solid white background. For less than $10, you can build your own lightbox that will vastly improve the quality of your product images.

Use creative angles

Shoot products from multiple angles. Be sure to include several images on every product page. The more perspectives and viewpoints you have, the better customers will be able to judge your product.

It's OK to tweak & process your images to make them pop

Process your images with filters that enhance color and overall image quality. Photo filters resolve poor lighting or color issues and vastly improve your product photos. Just try not to get carried away with dramatic filters that distort the color of your products, as this can be misleading for the buyer. Here’s a good example from ABeautifulMess.com showing the difference before and after image edits:

If you don’t have time or the inclination to take your own photography, outsource it to a professional. No matter what route you go, know that upgrading your product page photography is well worth the investment.

Build lookbooks & product collections

You can also provide more context for your products through lookbooks, which showcase your products in use. The term “lookbook” is mostly common in the fashion industry, but the concept can be extended to a variety of industries.

The photos in the lookbook for Fitbit’s Alta model of fitness tracker help shoppers envision themselves wearing them. Fitbit’s lookbook also establishes a brand lifestyle promise — impossible with product photos alone. Even better? The various photos are clickable and take you to the product page for that color/style of wristband:

Product collections are another great variation on this strategy. In this “Mediterranean Collection” page on Coastal.com, shoppers get an opportunity to shop by “style,” and to see examples of the glasses on actual faces instead of just a white background:

As I alluded to before, this isn’t just an opportunity for fashion sites. The trick is to make sure you're showing your products in action.

Plenty of other retailers have an opportunity to show off their product in use, like these photos from the Klipsch website showing off their soundbars in various settings:

Car accessories? Same thing.

Heck, even office furniture is easier to purchase when you see how it looks in a workspace.

Start adding product videos

Adding video to product pages is another relatively low-budget improvement you can make, yet it has extreme value for shoppers and your bottom line.

Why? Because video’s ability to quickly educate shoppers is a powerful conversion tool. Eyeview Digital reported that including video on landing pages can improve conversions by as much as 80%, and ComScore indicated that online shoppers are 64% more likely to buy after watching a video.

So how can you put video to work on your product pages?

Whether you’re demonstrating a how-to or simply showcasing a product and outlining product details, adding video on your product pages provides a whole new experience for online shoppers that helps overcome purchase objections and answers their questions.

Video also allows you to give shoppers a more complete overview of the product and to go beyond static pictures with a story element. These engaging visuals can help shoppers envision themselves using your products in a way that photography alone simply can’t.

Zappos is well known for including videos on what seems like every listing, but what’s more impressive to me is how much personality and brand voice they show off. While shopping for boots recently, I have to say Joe was my favorite video personality:

Click image to open product video in a new window.

If you’re up for taking this on with a DIY approach, it’s reasonably easy to create your own product videos at home with the right equipment. Or, outsource this project to a local professional or videographer for hire.

Upgrade your customer reviews software & process

In the current e-commerce landscape, competition is fierce — and there’s always someone willing to deliver cheaper and faster.

That’s why social proof is more important than ever before. Research from eConsultancy shows that 61% of consumers indicate they look to product reviews before making a purchase, and that product reviews are 12x more trusted than product descriptions from companies.

Customer reviews make your product pages more effective, allowing shoppers to evaluate the product based on real customer opinions — and can help you spot product issues.

I’m listing a few common platforms here, but you should really check out Everett Sizemore’s guide to product review software, which has some great insights on the performance of the entire marketplace of product review software options, including technical SEO concerns:

• BazaarVoice
• Yotpo
• Trustpilot
• PowerReviews

Traditional product reviews may not be right for all stores...

The best option for you will depend on the tool’s ability to integrate with your store, your preferred functionality, and your budget. Sometimes, traditional product reviews won’t be the best choice for your product or store.

In this example from ThinkGeek, they’ve opted to just let people leave Facebook comments rather than any product reviews at all. Which makes sense, because they’re Star Trek garden gnomes, and it’s not like you need to tell people whether they were the right size or not. Even better than Facebook comments, they also solicit product photos via social media on their #geekfamous hashtag.

Here’s another example where my favorite wallet company, SlimFold, simply highlights great product reviews that they received from press and customer emails. While it makes it harder for them to solicit new reviews, they only have a handful of products, and this format allows them to put more emphasis on specific reviews.

There are many different tools that will allow you to showcase elements of social proof like ratings and reviews, so take your time carefully reviewing different options to see which is the best fit for your needs and budget, and if normal product reviews aren’t the right fit, feel free to take a different approach.

Make enough of these small investments and you should see big improvements over the long term.

Tackling these small investments — as your schedule and budget allows — will dramatically improve the overall user experience and the effectiveness of your e-commerce store.

Consider which aspects are the most important to complete first, and then start doing your research and put together a strategy for how you’ll prioritize these site upgrades. With a well-thought-out plan of action, you can focus on the projects that will drive the best results for your business, rather than trying too many different tactics all at once.

Looking for more ideas? Take a look at our guides on product page optimization, category page optimization, and conversion rate improvements for e-commerce.

This is by no means the complete guide to investing in your e-commerce store, so in the discussion below, I’d like to hear from you. What creative ways have you improved your e-commerce site content in the past that boosted conversions or organic search?

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