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Coffee For Lunch | Interview With Wolfgang Digital SEO Analyst Luke Fitzgerald

3 min

Coffee For Lunch | Interview With Wolfgang Digital SEO Analyst Luke Fitzgerald
We’re all so busy and tied up to different commitments nowadays. Often, coffee is the only time we allow ourselves a break. For our second edition of the Coffee For Lunch Phorest interview series, we chatted with Luke Fitzgerald, from Wolfgang Digital about salon websites and SEO best practices. Catch your breath with this short interview or, watch the video!

Coffee For Lunch With Luke Fitzgerald (Wolfgang Digital)

About Wolfgang Digital

Digital marketing is a fast-paced industry. For the less tech-savvy, how to market a website the right way can seem frankly quite daunting. That’s why some agencies specialise in this field exist (thank god!). Wolfgang Digital, a Dublin-based digital agency, is all about that jazz: optimising clients’ marketing efforts to help produce best results.

Over the years, Wolfgang Digital has “subsequently gone from strength to strength, achieving an impressive Domestic & European double in 2015 by winning the “Best Agency” and “Grand Prix” titles in prestigious Irish and European industry awards.”

About Salon Websites & SEO

Phorest Salon Software | What is SEO?
Luke Fitzgerald | SEO stands for “search engine optimisation.” It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” or “natural” search results on search engines.
P.S.S. | What are the most common mistakes you see with small business websites? 

L.F. | Many small sites don’t take advantage of some ‘quick wins’ that can help them achieve free visibility on search engines. Things like “title tags” tell both users and search engines what your website’s content is all about. “Meta descriptions” are essentially your shop window in search engine results. Ensuring that you take advantage of this space is vitally important. Making sure each page has a unique title and description with a call-to-action is essential.

Blog content can help differentiate your business from the competition and with Google stating that ‘content is king’ it really pays to take your content seriously.
P.S.S. | What are the non-negotiables of a high performing small business website in 2017?

L.F. | Firstly, the page load speed, as slow websites perform poorly in search results. In fact, users are becoming increasingly impatient when it comes to page speed. Secondly, being mobile friendly. With over 65% of Irish online traffic now on mobile devices, if your site ain’t mobile friendly, it’s missing a trick. Thirdly, security. Online user security is becoming hugely important in light of some recent high-profile hacking scandals. Ensuring your site is fully secure using HTTPS and SSL certs is one of our major recommendations for 2017. Finally, your local visibility. Ensuring your salon website is optimised for local users in your local area will ensure a steady, returning footfall through your door.

P.S.S. | Any suggestions on how to get this on a small budget?
L.F. | Yes, there’s plenty of free tools, resources and plugins which can help you achieve online success. The first thing every salon website should have is a Google My Business profile. This allows you to have a free ‘knowledge panel’ over on the right-hand side of the results page when someone searches for your brand. You can showcase your salon images, opening hours, obtain customer reviews and much more with a GMB account, it’s essentially free advertising from Google! Yoast SEO is a godsend if you’re on WordPress, and don’t forget the amazing free salon marketing resources at your disposal if you’re a Phorest client!
Link building is another important aspect of SEO and it costs nothing to reach out to other local businesses, business directories and news publications asking them to link to your site provided there’s relevance and a genuine reason for this link to exist.
P.S.S. | What impact has social media on your website rankings?

L.F. | Social media is one of the most important ranking factors for a salon website. Along with content, backlinks, page speed and security, ensuring your social profiles are linked to from your website and that your website is linked back to from your social profiles is a huge part of the digital marketing mix. The more shares and interaction your social posts receive, the more likely they are to be well received by search engines!

luke fitzgerald

Luke Fitzgerald from Wolfgang Digital


Are you looking for more information on how to manage your Online Reputation? Sign up for our Phorest Academy “Online Reputation Masterclass” Webinar today! Get the tools you need to take control of how clients treat, react and rate your business online.

luke fitzgerald

Thanks for reading!

#LetsGrow

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