SEO In Trinidad & Tobago Part 2: Prepare For The Visit First

I’m sure you were expecting this part to jump right into the nuts and bolts of Search Engine Optimization for Trinidad & Tobago: keywords, meta tags, heading hierarchy, link building and what have you— but I’m not. I’m going to deliberately put the bullcart before the bull. Let’s paint this scenario: your SEO techniques have worked their magic and you’re on the first page of Google T&T, someone searches using one of your keywords, clicks your site, question— is your site absolutely ready for the visit?

If your website’s not able to knock their rubber slippers off then what’s the point of your SEO? In Part 1 I told you that Trinis love to Google, I also said that a website on the first page of search should live up to its ranking. That’s why I emphasized that being at the very top doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get all the customers. Sites lower down the page have equal opportunity because many Trinis will still have a look at most, if not all on the first page.

After SEO does its job, then it’s your website’s turn

Mr. SEO says “all yours” to Mr. Website and hands over the visitor. It’s all about CONVERSION now, remember, your website’s reason for being? It’s nice to have visitors ooh and aah over your fancy bells and whistles, flashing lights and dancing monkeys (and I talked about this in Part 4 of my Websiting Series), but literally, at the beginning, during and end of the day, you have a business and it needs paying customers to survive.

Simply put, your website has to be all it can be at this point, by converting the new traffic into business. It’s a numbers game and don’t you ever forget it: MORE TRAFFIC=MORE CHANCES OF CONVERSION.  I won’t get into the elements of good web design here as that’s what my Websiting Series explains. This article is to tell you to get your house in order before visitors come, else you risk the repercussions which are:

• A disappointed visitor- who won’t return
• A disappointed visitor- who’ll go to your competitor instead
• An angry visitor- who’ll tell everyone don’t bother with your site
• Another Trini shaking his/her head at one more clueless local business

After your website does its job, it doesn’t end there

Mr. Website gives your visitor all the info they but the relationship doesn’t remain faceless— this is T&T, personal contact has to be made to make the sale. Eventually there’ll be many local e-commerce sites going full throttle without human interaction but for now it’s still faces. I make this point to highlight one of my pet peeves in this country, the horrendous, atrocious “customer service” that’s apparently written policy for many businesses. All the SEO in the world won’t help your businesses except speed the rotation of the revolving door- with customers who won’t return if you make no effort to keep them. TRANSLATION: Before you SEO up, STEP UP.