SEO and making tea

That's not how I make my tea, and it may not the way you make yours. Alongside a huge range of personal preferences, there are number of aspects of tea making to consider, mostly from tips to making the perfect cuppa that other people will have given that you have adopted over the years.

Approaching building a website and the search engine optimisation is very similar to making the perfect cup of tea; the basis of which is knowledge of what your audience likes and investment in the ability to provide that - where employing digital strategists or consultants for your web project is vital. I’ll go through a few scenarios of tips that I have had here and equate that to offerings for an almost perfect online experience.

Never buy cheap tea. Nine times out of ten, cheap tea bags make cheap tea and leave no satisfaction. Similarly, if you realise the tea that you have decided to buy on face value suddenly turns out to have a slightly bizarre taste, you now have a box of it sat there looking at you! Always get recommendations from other people before committing your business to a web project.
My fiancé has the smallest amount of milk in his tea, cannot decide if he wants 1 or 2 sugars and leaves the tea 'to cool' before I pour half of it away at the end of the night because it's become 'too cold'. He wants a full mug, not a smaller cup. If he would make up his mind how much sugar he needs and add a little cold water to his mug, it would be the right temperature and he would drink it all, not wasting any resources. Discuss your business need with your teams, the listen to your teams, listen to your colleagues and employees input and feedback, listen to your web project managers, listen to those who are able to deliver what your business needs, even though it may be not as you thought it should be done; they know how to deliver to your budget and maximise resources. At the end of the day, the better the end product, the better everyone feels about it, and the more benefit is reaped all round.
One of the designers here at Red Ant likes his tea weak, milky and very sugary; I like mine to be strong, with a dash of milk and the occasional half spoon of sugar. But we can still both stand in the kitchen and make tea for each other. So provide ingredients not only for your visitor, but also enough for their friends so that they can recommend your services to them. However, you do not have to provide services for everyone; we have English tea - no infusions to offer and regular coffee but no cappuccinos'. Sticking to the basics for our caffeine needs, but not getting too fancy because it is not the time or the place. We know our audience, we know if we want something a little extra we get it ourselves and we always return to our favourite staple diet of tea and gallons of it!
Many years ago, a friend named Craig told me off for putting the sugar and milk into the cup while the tea is brewing. Apparently the molecules of the milk stop the flavour from coming out of the teabag perforations. I needed to wait until the tea was brewed and ready to have milk and sugar added. So in terms of optimisation - don’t put everything in at once, watch, taste, learn, add, watch, taste, learn, add...
My very cool grandparents retain and store to compost their used tea; then granddad uses that compost to grow vegetables and give out to the family. His careful use of something that has already given him one thing and follow up means we all get some very tasty courgettes! Repeat visits are a great way to determine how successful you can become and brand evangelists are great to help grow your business. Perhaps each visitor should be treated in such a way that they are able to provide further enrichment back to another area of the business at another time of the year, or contacted to give some enrichment back to them in the form of loyalty vouchers. Their evangelism of your brand then becomes a great reputation for your company.
My cousin Simon came to live with us for a while and displayed what can only be described as very informed and particular tea making skills. One day he made me think when told me off for squishing the water out of the bag before I took it out - apparently that makes the tea bitter. Gentle infusion is key to a harmonious relationship, and treating the infuser gently when removing it means the experience is less harsh for all. I guess that this is an example of providing a great experience, and customer service. Provide good follow up and treat even the smallest sale as your biggest client for a great reputation and lots of word of mouth/social exposure.

Now you know how I like my tea - and my websites - why not make me a cup of tea that I’ll like and build me a website that makes me want to come back, or even purchase from!

This blog post was written by Sarah

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