Online marketing for logo designers
No matter what industry you’re in, you need to pay attention to what your prospective customers are looking for. As many of you know, I specialise as a logo designer, but that’s not to say I should focus 100% of my efforts on marketing myself as such.
That might sound strange, but let me explain.
I attract a lot of new business through my website, so it makes sense to learn what people search for in order to find it. Think of how many different search terms there are for what I specialise in:
- Logo design
- Logo designer
- Custom logo
- Business logo
- Brand identity
- Corporate identity
- Identity design
- Best logos
The list goes on, but the point remains – to focus all your efforts on one search term is ruling out a vast amount of potential business.
Assuming search engines are already sending you traffic, you need to know what people are searching for when they find your website. Google is the search engine that currently rules the roost over Yahoo, MSN etc., and it provides useful tools for tracking web statistics. Checking your historical search data, using Google’s Webmaster Tools, is an excellent way to find out what search terms show your website in the results, and what position you are in the rankings.
This recent addition to Google’s Webmaster Tools is titled Top search queries (indicated by my expert arrow, above). In your own Webmaster Tools, clicking this link presents you with two lists of data. One shows the top 20 search queries your site appears in, and the other shows the top 20 clicked queries.
David Airey’s top search queries
As it says in the above image, these are the top search queries in which my website appears during the past seven days (this timeframe can be changed to show up to the past six months). The first two slots on the list, for logo design and logo designer, amount to 23% of all the Google searches in which my website appears, and you can see that other logo-related search terms also show my website – best logos, designing a logo.
A new print design client recently found my website after searching for best logos, and whilst I’m not creating any logos for him, I am designing a 200 page art book, and other promotional material. So just because someone looks for you through your main area of expertise, doesn’t mean you can’t do business together on something else.
Before thinking I’m well on track with the results of the search query table, it must be noted that it only tells half the story (and the least important half too). Even though I appear in the results for a relevant search term, this doesn’t mean I’m attracting new visitors. I need to know if people are actually clicking on my name in the results, and this is where the next table comes into play.
David Airey’s top clicked queries
In the above image, you can see that the largest percentage of click-throughs to my website arrive from people searching for graphic design portfolio. It’s possible that some of those people are potential clients, but much more likely that they’re other graphic designers, looking for inspiration (I know I’ve searched through graphic design portfolios on many occasions).
The combined click-throughs for both logo design and logo designer amount to just 13% of my total visits from Google searches – much lower than the 23% of searches in which I appear for those terms.
Let’s sum that up:
- I want to attract logo design clients
- My website appears in logo design online searches
- Only around 50% of searches in which my website appears attract people to click-through
What can I do to improve click-through rates?
It goes without saying that #1 on the list of search results will attract many more click-throughs than those further down, and I’m not at #1. So I must be patient, and continue to produce relevant content based around logo design.
However, I think I can entice more logo design clients by changing my website title and description. Take a look at what you currently see when my website appears in search results:
You can see that I’m branding myself as a graphic designer, and whilst logo design is covered by this title, perhaps showing David Airey :: Logo Designer would be of more benefit. A Google search for logo designer shows my website on the first page of results, but I’m the only site on the list not to have logo or logo design in the title.
Should I change from Graphic Designer to Logo Designer? I think I’ll test it for a while, and keep a close eye on click-through percentages, but your opinion would also be appreciated. Removing the term ‘graphic designer’ also folds away the umbrella that covers a lot of my expertise (brochure design, flyers and posters, banners and leaflets etc.), which goes back to my previous thoughts about setting up a specialised logo design website.
Targeting specific search terms and keywords
Where keywords are concerned, it’s no good targeting a phrase or word that no-one will ever search for, so you need to do your research. It’s possible to discover how many people are searching for specific terms, and I touch upon that in a previous blog post, graphic design Edinburgh and keyword search ranking.
For a more in-depth look at the resources available, check out 30 keyword tools to use for your website.
How are you marketing yourself online?
What does your website title / description say, and does it accurately reflect the service or product you offer?
It’s absolutly vital to be able to measure results. Are you tracking visitor statistics so you can increase traffic?
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20 spot-on reader comments to “Online marketing for logo designers”
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This is actualy something that I have been thinking and concerned about for a while now. I don’t feel that I am marketing myself correctly or sufficiently online. I have a few blogs, some doing better than others, but I can see the potential and get stuck when I think about you to promote myself online.
All I can think of at the moment is ways which involve me spending alot of cash with no promise of reward. So I’m a bit bemused.
I love that aspect of Webmaster Tools. I’ve used it a lot to spot which of my pages are doing pretty well, then optimizing those pages so that they do really well. It’s a fantastic resource. :)
In terms of my site title; I’ve covered that my site’s name. The main keyword that I’m after is “blog design,” which is part of the site title, “Pro Blog Design.”
Beyond that, I work on individual pages just. I don’t have an overall keyword strategy yet because I think my blog is still quite new. I wasn’t expecting it to be doing well at all in the SEs for about 6 months to be honest…
As for your site, why not go for both? “Graphic and Logo Designer”
I originally found your site when I was searching for “beer in the evening,” however I have been disappointed as of late to yet get any beer from you. Especially not any beer in the evening.
I think graphic designer is a good term to rank high for and the rest of your site will have plenty of keywords related to logo designer that will help your results more then enough.
I have been aiming for the keyword “web design news” lately and have been bouncing around on the phrase. Currently in quotes I am ranked #5 but out of quotes I am only ranked #13. I don’t use my site for primarily freelance web design though, but I probably should. I could always use more freelance work.
What are those ways of spending money that you’re thinking about?
Besides my website, and my time visiting clients, I spend very little money on offline marketing – the majority of which goes towards my business cards. My main marketing tool is my website, so I focus on the content to sell my services.
Michael,
The fact that you have ‘blog design’ in your web address / blog title is great. It’s one reason why I bought a few domain names with ‘logo design’ in the address. There’s also the resellability, if that’s a route you want to take. No-one would want to buy davidairey.com, but many would like problogdesign.com.
For my site title, ‘graphic and logo designer’ is an option. Thanks for the suggestion.
So you’re one of the ‘beer in the evening’ visitors! I’d wondered why I was receiving visits from those searches, and indeed why people were searching for that phrase. Then I checked it myself and found out about the ‘beer in the evening’ website.
Sorry I couldn’t provide any free booze, but if you visit Scotland anytime I’ll join you for a pint of Guinness. Good luck in your quest for the ‘web design news’ #1 spot.
Very good post!
Thanks for the pointers!
David,
First of all, thanks for linking to my post on keyword tools. It’s always nice to see a link from a blog that you enjoy and subscribe to. I found your site not too long ago, but I think it was through a link, not Google. I was thinking the same thing as Michael, why not try both.
I get almost no Google traffic to my homepage, but a pretty good (and growing) amount to individual blog posts. For that reason I pay more attention to my post titles than the homepage title. My site is still fairly new so I don’t expect to draw much traffic for searches like “web design” or “website designer” anytime soon. Long tail is my best option. I have a post title structure that’s similar to yours, the post title followed by my site title.
Thanks for the post.
Please increase the frequency of posting.
What about 1/day?
Great article David. This blog is a real education on all things SEO. I’m still finding my way around Analytics–this has been a great help.
PS: do you show pingbacks?
David, I wasn’t thinking of spending money offline, I was thinking of spending money to advertise online on sites/blogs that have similar, relevant content to the one I run. Is this worth my time?
You’re very welcome.
Steven,
It was my pleasure linking to your article. It’s well pieced together, so thanks for that, and for the suggestion similar to Michaels. I think the post title structure (as you’re also implementing) helps greatly where searches are concerned.
Niyaz,
I do write every day, if only a little, but prefer to put more effort into each blog post than daily time allows. There’s also the factor that not everyone checks their feed reader every day, or is able to spend time visiting, so having one post at the forefront of my homepage for more than 24 hours gives it extra exposure, and can generate more discussion.
Johno,
No worries at all. There’s so much I don’t know about Google Analytics, but I’m taking it one step at a time.
Good question about pingbacks. I used to show them, but now, since my custom theme launch, they don’t appear. I guess I’ve missed out on something simple, although not simple enough for me to realise what. Ideally, I’d like to have trackbacks separated from comments, and also for trackbacks to appear. ;)
Nic,
Do you have a business plan for your blog? I think it’s important to have a plan of action before spending any money on advertising. I’ve not needed to include advertising in my plan, as thankfully my content has helped much more than a few banners could.
Hey David,
I meant to comment on this, but you know how I’ve been spending my time lately (picking up the pieces of my destroyed hard drive. Sigh.)
Have you checked out Google’s traffic estimator (part of Ad Words, and still free) for suggestions for keywords with the most traffic? It’s pretty interesting. For example, Google has much more traffic going to logo design than to logo designer (like 5 times as much). It’s almost always antithetical to what I think the best search words are, but I realize that I’m searching as someone in the field, and the people who are (hopefully) looking for me (and you) aren’t using our terminology.
Hey David,
Really interesting, and well thought out post (worthy of a Stumble me thinks).
I have to say, I think I might try out either, “Logo Designer : David Airey” or “Logo and Graphic Designer : David Airey”
Placing the key words first might add a little more focus.
Again, sorry about your hard drive. Have you been able to recover anything from the nightmare?
I’ve not actually seen Google’s traffic estimator, but your description makes it seem like a useful tool (kind of like the keyword suggestion tool from Aaron’s SEObook).
I’m sure it’d be much better to be on the 1st page of Google results for logo design, rather than logo designer, and I’m currently languishing around page #5 for logo design. Still, I have patience.
Armen,
Kind of you to stumble this post. That’s very much appreciated. I’ve changed my site title to:
David Airey :: Graphic and Logo Designer
I’ll test that for a while and see if there’s any change. Your suggestion is a good one, although perhaps it’s better to keep my name at the forefront, as it ties in better with my personal logo?
Yeah, I’m sure it wouldn’t make much difference (if any) anyway. But, I was just thinking, people who are searching aren’t looking for David Airey, they’re looking for a logo designer, so seeing logo designer first might have more impact.
Maybe not though. Keep testing, and keep learning.
Good point about people not searching for me, but rather a logo designer. On the flip side, none of the other 1st page results for logo designer show an actual name, so it can help me stand out, and adds a little personality – hopefully. ;)
Good points and vital for some basic seo tips and tricks :)
Soon you will be able to add SEO to your list of tools
Not sure about adding SEO to the list, but I appreciate the sentiments.
Maybe it’s me but a lot of web designers seem disinterested in marketing themselves well. I don’t know if this is due to intimidation, lack of knowledge, or what. I’ve seen some crappy web designers market themselves well and do pretty dang good financially. I wish good web designers would stop being so stubborn.
I’ve also seen some websites, where I’d consider the design to be under-par, do extremely well for themselves through marketing.
There’ll always be a need for web developers, so those who are first through the door of the client have a great advantage, whether their own website is stunning or not.
Thanks for stopping by.