The Importance of SEO in a Post Lockdown Pandemic Economy
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is more important than ever for bricks and mortar stores who have an old, outdated website; from small businesses who built their own simple website, to sole traders making handmade products launching their first online webshop.
Pre pandemic SEO demand tended to be requests for DIY SEO tuition, lessons over Zoom or in-house at their business location.
When the first Lockdown was enforced on March 25, 2020, the global economy shifted overnight. Going to the supermarket was restricted, the shelves were bare due to panic purchases and stockpiling of household goods, transport networks halted and the hospitality industry closed their doors UK Nationwide overnight.
Why is eCommerce SEO an Under Valued Investment?
I’ve analysed data from 2019 going back a decade to 2009 to identify reasons why business owners view SEO as a cost, rather an an investment in their company’s online success. Budget was always been a factor. As a sole trader my rates in 2009 were less than half than they are today, yet potential clients still baulked at the idea of spending less than ‘half a ton’ for a website mentoring and search engine ranking lesson.
When did SEO Demand Change in the Pandemic?
Overnight.
Let’s say my monthly average of onboarding a new client was around 1-2 a month, towards the end of March 2020 I was incredulous to read half a dozen new client enquiries stacking up in my emails all at once.
The clients contacting me were not concerned about the cost. They have already skimmed the 400 SEO Lady Reviews plus Googled my reputation online.
In just 5 days I was scheduled for an SEO Video Consultation 5 times.
One new client contacted me for eCommerce SEO for Shopify, her family business has two chocolaterie cafes selling handmade chocolates as well as bistro food and hot drinks.
Due to the pandemic lockdown, both bricks and mortar locations were closed, slashing their turnover by a figure close to 98%.
The client immediately booked a Zoom video SEO consultation and following the keyword discussion and agreeing of the search terms, my exclusive 30 Day SEO Booster schedule.
eCommerce SEO Booster – Google Competitor Research
The chocolate client and I planned a 6 month SEO Roadmap, from November 2020-May 2021
- Christmas chocolates – SEO in November and December
- Valentine’s Day – January 2021 for February
- Easter Eggs – February and March for April
- Mother’s Day – April and May
All of the chocolate-related events were targeted, with UK Nationwide as a geographical target (Local SEO was fine for click n collect) with the single keywords “Handmade” mentioned in all of them. So, “Handmade Chocolate Father Christmas” was a search phrase to target. We then rolled out other products to the SEO hitlist, including a ‘Create your own’ large chocolate box, and seasonal chocolate lollypops on sticks.
Rumsey’s Chocolates SEO Case Study and Google rankings, with website traffic volumes.
Selling Online Successfully in a Pandemic
‘Fire fighting’ was one phrase I heard a lot of in 2020. Clients were rolling in with an unprecedented demand; small businesses were forced to close their retail stores, the construction industry used the lockdown periods to invest in SEO to keep their heads above water in the cases when the digital marketing budget was suddenly a priority.
Often over Zoom I’d hear a client comment on the unfortunate demise of a local competitor, and now their website was losing rankings in Google, they wanted to take the lion’s share of the online presence in the vacant Google page 1 coveted top spot in their place.
Brutal stories, people begging me to start immediately – believe me, I tried to accommodate the clients as best as I could – as a sole trader this was not SEO work I could sub contract out.
All of my methods are unique and effectively I would need to find another Nina to help me out, but in all of the years I’ve seen clients pay for a cheap blog article copywriter, I end up rewriting the content anyway for search engines. Remember I blogged about hiring an SEO Copywriter in the UK for eCommerce, Shopify and WordPress?
SEO Keywords – Google Search Phrases for Ranking Improvements
It’s OK that you don’t know what search phrases you want to target. That’s my job, to help you understand irrelevent keywords in a search phrase, or to add more to target the long tail Google searches.
Often when people learn that they need SEO for their website they have no idea what to target in Google. In my experience this takes 30 minutes minimum to discuss over the phone and can take up to 45 minutes – based on my experience with in-house SEO training.
Some people call Google search phrases “keywords” or “key phrases”, there’s also “target phrases”.
However you describe your target traffic search phrases here’s how to begin.
SEO work or training cannot start without key phrases and it’s common for an SEO quote be only for the work and tasks to carry out, without a personal 1-2-1 discussion about how to make money in Google by agreeing on the search phrases beforehand.
It’s one thing to pay $5 for a keyword suggestion spreadsheet from someone online, but in the end that’s all you get, just a spreadsheet with the keywords and an invoice, very impersonal don’t you think?
Search Engine Data – Google Ads or Search Console? How many people click a paid advertising spot at the top of the page nowadays?
In this video (October 2021) Barry Schwartz and Charley Spektor discuss VERY interesting data gaps between what Google Ads reported and actual human research data.
Charley shared this bombshell: Google Ads will estimate you may get 20 clicks with the phrase you submit to it’s keyword tool, but:
In reality there are more people actively ignoring paid adverts in favour of the good, old fashioned, organic search results.
Hiring a Freelance eCommerce SEO in the UK – What costs?
Any SEO individual will happily share with you the most popular questions clients ask when contacting an SEO Freelancer in the UK, together with the question “How much are Freelance SEO prices?“
Top 3 SEO Questions
- How long will it take to rank me to Google page one? How quickly can you rank my website?
- What promises do you make? Do you predict I’ll be at the top of Google in 6 months?
- How much does it cost? Can I pay you double for Quick SEO?
SEO FAQ Answers
- Every website is unique and it varies depends on your competition
- I’m unable to make any promises nor predictions as no one can manipulate Google.
- My costs are on a fixed fee basis, all new clients pay the same amount.
Online Retail Website Google Ranking – eCommerce UK, Europe and Worldwide
It pays to be cheap, when you hire an overseas agency via a web platform, or search online for ‘affordable seo’ locally, you get exactly what you pay for. Your business future would succeed in a far faster rate of pace if you valued the work of a trusted SEO Freelancer.
Google Girl Nina Payne – The SEO Lady – Contact me today.
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White Label SEO for Digital Agencies
