Beauty Salon Marketing

google search beauty salon nottingham More and more of our salon marketing toolkit owners are asking us to help them with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for their salon website. At the same time, many are contacting us for advice after an “SEO expert” has emailed or telephoned them out of the blue, telling them something like “We can guarantee to get your salon website to number 1 in Google!”

If you are thinking about SEO or search marketing for your salon website, it can play a very important role in your salon marketing plan, especially as the Credit Crunch (or recession) makes it vital to get maximum value from your marketing budget. But we recommend that before you invest any money with an SEO company, you should educate yourself a little first, so that you know whether you are getting value for money… and so that you can avoid the “snake oil” sellers!

A recent post on the SEOptimise blog points to a couple of good resources for beginners -

Google Site Owner’s Help - Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

What better authority on search engines than Google itself? Their Webmaster Help pages includes a useful introduction to the advantages, and potential disadvantages, of working with an SEO agency or consultancy

“SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization” or “search engine optimizer.” Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

Review of your site content or structure

Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript

Content development

Managing online business development campaigns

Keyword research

SEO training

Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

…If you’re thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you’re considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.”

The article goes on to list some useful questions to ask a potential SEO consultant, before hiring them, and some warnings that will help you avoid the unscrupulous SEO imposters, including -

Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue
No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google
You should never have to link to an SEO
What are the most common abuses a website owner is likely to encounter?

Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

If you’re looking at search marketing for your salon, Yahoo’s Search Marketing Blog has some excellent information. Obviously, a lot of it is aimed at users of their own search marketing service, but their “A Smarter Start” free downloadable booklet is worth reading for anyone considering search marketing as part of their salon marketing plan -

“Yahoo! Search Marketing Specialist “Sharon Goodsense” shows how the decisions you make with your account play a key role in your search marketing success. In this easy-to-read booklet, Sharon takes you through the steps of creating effective campaigns and offers helpful advice of how to make good decisions. The Smart Start Guide includes chapters on:

Getting to know your account

Building a foundation with strong keywords

Organizing ad groups for success

Writing effective ads

Making sure your ads are high quality

Matching keywords to your customers’ searches

Determining effective bids

Targeting your ads geographically

Advertising on content sites other than Yahoo.com

Tracking your results

There’s also a section of effective troubleshooting techniques.”