Is It Me You're Looking For?

Yorkshire online copywriters Tight Jeans and Jelly Shoes manage to sneak in a quick Q & A session with leading search consultant and internet marketing specialist Rob Hartley from www.bitmedia.co.uk

How long have you been working in the industry?

“I’ve been in my current role with Bitmedia for about 18 months now. Before this I was worked in Far East as marketing consultant for an organisation based out there. It’s been great to apply the knowledge that I’ve gained to the UK market.”

Your industry is a fairly young one, do you find that things are still changing at a rapid pace?

“Yes certainly. As web technologies continue to develop and progress at a breathtaking rate, so does the role of the internet marketing consultant. I have to keep ahead of the game and be aware of any industry developments which can be applied to the benefit of my clients’ businesses.

Take organic search engine marketing and pay per click advertising for example, this is an area which is constantly evolving. As we learn more about the behaviour and algorithms of the search engines, the techniques that we use to achieve our objectives change.

I am continually reviewing my strategies in the light of what I learn.”

How important is the role of the copywriter in achieving strong search rankings?

“Vital. The content of a website has a huge impact on its search visibility. Without strong keyphrased copy which is regularly updated, a website won’t be able to maximise its organic search potential.

I work very closely with copywriters on most of our projects.”

How does the copywriter/search consultant relationship work?

“It depends really. If I’m beginning the process of search optimising a website from scratch then I will firstly undertake research into the market, competition and organic search viability. From this information I can then go on to formulate a strategy and undertake a keyphrase analysis for the project’s copywriter.

The copywriter and I will then go through the proposed strategy together and iron out any points which we disagree on. Often the client will be involved at this stage too. As the copywriter starts to put the optimised content together we will continue to liaise until the text is complete.

After the copy has been signed off and the site has gone live I will continue to work with the copywriter on press releases, email marketing and additional editorial for the site. Organic optimisation is very much an ongoing process which requires constant evaluation, and the regular addition of index-able content to a site.

As I identify areas for improvement, I feed them to the copywriter and we keep things moving.

As an online marketing consultant it is vital to find a professional web copywriter who understands and anticipates the way you work. Fortunately for me there are a number of good online copywriters in Yorkshire.”