From Sarah Lowry – Why I Wouldn’t Sell The Oppenheim Group an SEO package
Last week, the Selling Sunset reunion graced our screens, but I still have some unfinished business. Whilst binge-watching the latest season, I became curious about the Oppenheim Group’s marketing activity. So first, I looked at whether they are doing any SEO or not and from a short technical audit of the website, I can tell you the answer is most certainly not.
The Oppenheim Group are a perfect example of a company with a perceived high turnover and enormous marketing budget. So I asked myself, “would I sell The Oppenheim Group an SEO package?” From the title of this blog, you can probably already guess that my answer to this question is a clear no.
“But!” I hear you cry, “Their image file sizes are huge, their meta descriptions aren’t optimised and don’t even get me started on the level of duplicate content across the site.” You’re right; anyone who has done any technical SEO audit on the Oppenheim Group website will know first-hand that the website is an SEOs nightmare. However, as a channel, Google isn’t where the Oppenheim Group’s most profitable and returning customers are, and that is why I wouldn’t sell them an SEO package.
To provide outstanding service as an agency, it’s essential to ascertain, with any business that has a physical and online presence, what role the website plays in the customer journey and who the website is for.
For example, is the website’s main purpose to;
… generate revenue?
… generate new leads?
… signpost people to the correct store?
… serve as a brochure?
… serve as a source of information for existing customers?
For the Oppenheim Group, new clients are either won off the back of the realtor themselves, via a referral or even from people walking past the office on Sunset Boulevard. The website therefore would serve as a brochure and a source of information regarding new listings for existing clients to be signposted back to.
A brochure website’s main purpose is to display the products and services the business provides with only a few key pages. The key pages contain need to know information only and customers can then reach out directly to make a purchase. The Oppenheim Group’s main objective is to sell luxury real estate and so their website must include captivating imagery, vivid descriptions and a visually engaging UX design. With the right branding, copy and visual design elements a brochure website can deliver high-quality results.
Ultimately, whilst I wouldn’t sell the Oppenheim Group an SEO package, I would sell them a combination of copywriting, branding and UX design. Their target audience is always on the move and so the output would be a slick designed website that can be viewed without any loading problems across any device and serve high-quality images even on the poorest internet connection. Clients would be drawn to the website with engaging copy via highly strategised digital and bricks and mortar marketing tactics.
