Learning how to get to the top of Google can help you to attract new clients & customers. It builds trust & gets you ahead of the competition. But how can you do it successfully as a creative?
In this podcast I spoke to #1 Bestseller and digital expert Tim Cameron-Kitchen from Exposure Ninja about how creatives can improve their websites to give their clients & customers the best experience, how keywords can help you get ahead of the competition, and improve your ranking on Google.
As someone who used to struggle with this myself, Tim breaks it down into manageable chunks that you can start working on straight away. He offers practical advise that won’t cost you a penny to start working on right now.
You can listen to the whole interview in the podcast below.
How can you improve your website to attract new clients & customers?
As creatives your clients & customers are the life blood of your career. Without them, you have no business and no income. The most important thing you can do is to make it easy for them to find you, understand what you offer and get in touch with you. Have a look at your own website and follow the points below.
- What is the one objective that your website must do? Is it to get people to sign up to a mailing list, get in contact with you, or a place to view your portfolio?Understanding the one thing that you need your website to do, means that you can build it with that in mind, but also design it in a way that makes it easy for the customer to navigate.
Have a look at some of your competitor’s websites. Do they make the experience easy or hard for you? Can you work out the one thing that they are asking you to do?
- The next thing to think about is your Keywords. So what exactly are Keywords? Keywords are the search term or sentence that your customers would type into Google to find you.Don’t second guess what you think they would type in to find you- go and ask them! You might not realise that you use industry language which your customers & clients wouldn’t. Learning how they find you and making sure you add those keywords into the dashboard on your WordPress or Square space site is going to help Google to pull you up the rankings, and in tern help you to get ahead of the competition.
- Learn how to choose the right keywords so you don’t get lost in the crowd. Everyone might be searching for web designer in London, but that isn’t going to get you to the top. If you live in a smaller place than London, or are working in a regional area, make sure you use those words rather than something generic like London. Make it as focussed as possible: Web designer in Islington North London instead.
- Collect the data before choosing the Keywords. Before you jump in feet first and start deciding on your keywords you need to do a bit of research first. What you might think is a good keyword, might be used by so many people it becomes worthless.There are lots of sites that help you search for Keywords to get the data back on how often they have been used etc. You want to make sure you have something that is used, but not so popular that you are one in a million using it.
Some sites to help you with Keywords
- Google ad words can help you search for Keywords in their Keyword planner– but it now isn’t free to everyone.
- Keywordtool.io is free to use and help you get the right data about a potential keyword you want to use.
- Semrush.com is another free platform where you can search for Keywords.
How to get to the top of Google
Learning what to do to improve your Google ranking will help you to stop wasting time trying to share your website with the wrong audience, or getting lost in the crowds of your competition. So what do you need to do to improve your ranking?
- Make sure you are adding Keywords that you have researched, into your website pages.Use ones that have sub niches like local, regional words. Use words that your customer and clients would use to search for you, rather than guessing what you think they would use. Get the exact phrase they would use into your keywords.
Avoid using Keywords that have been used a lot- often called a high volume phrase.
- Make the website experience a pleasurable one for your clients and customers. Make sure it is clear what you want them to do on the site, and design it so that becomes the one objective of your website.As creatives we all want to make beautiful sites to show off our work, but if the people you want to come and buy it don’t know how to get hold of you, or are dazzled by the site, but feel confused, you have lost a potential sale. Put yourself in their shoes- or even better, get them to test the site for you!
- Add a blog to your website. It isn’t solely there for a brain-dump, it can be a great way to add Keywords and content that your clients & customers will find valuable.Think of 30 questions that they always ask you. Is it things like “How long does it cost to build a website”, or “How long does it take to deliver your art work”. Then write blog posts answering those questions (making sure that you ad Keywords to the blog post as well).
- Don’t over look the simple things. Can your audience contact you easily? Do you make them leave your website to email you, or could you add a contact form so that they stay on your site? Test things and get feedback. Your audience, customers and clients are the best resource for you to get feedback- don’t second guess everything.
Further help
You can get further help on digital marketing by heading over to Tim Cameron-Kitchen’s website, where you can get a free review of your own website:
If you would like further reading you can buy Tim’s books from Amazon and some bookshops.
“How to get to the top of Google” By Tim Cameron-Kitchen.
“Profitable social media marketing” By Tim Cameron-Kitchen
Let me know in the comments below what is the one thing you are struggling with to attract new clients and customers.