The world of business is changing. Businesses everywhere are undergoing what is known as “digital transformation,” which is essentially optimizing and improving the user’s online experience when interacting with a business or brand.

Since the pandemic hit, people are shopping, working, and doing business at home more than ever before. That means it’s VITAL for a company to nail its digital processes, as well as its online presentation — if they want to succeed heading into the future.

Take an excellent client of ours, The Alley. They’re an outstanding dining and tea shop chain, specializing in gourmet and artisan tea beverages. They came to us with a need to update their website for the modern era of business and online consumerism, see below for the full story.

A global, Toronto-based tea shop chain, The Alley prides itself on the hand-picked, all-natural ingredients in its products. From freshly prepared tapioca to homemade sugar cane syrup, The Alley is a place for true tea lovers. With six locations throughout Canada and increasing expansion around the United States, The Alley is a growing presence in the tea industry, with its brand being synonymous with quality.

As a global brand, The Alley wanted an organic way to reach more potential customers on a regular basis, especially in and around the Greater Toronto Area. Noticing the rising need for a seamless, attractive digital experience and SEO optimization, they reached out to Sercas for a full website audit, as well as some assistance from SEO professionals so they could fix up their brand for a better overall SEO ranking.

Sercas got to work and performed a number of processes to get The Alley’s business optimized:

This is essentially a deep dive into all of the factors that may or may not be affecting a website’s visibility for Google and other search engines. The main goal of this is to shine a light on the actions and steps that need to be taken in order to get a business’s site SEO-optimized. Broken links, error pages, site speed, HTML verification, and many other factors come into play here.

This is a review of the listed business’s operating information. That means reviews, phone number visibility, transparency on business hours, and any other information that might give the prospective customer insight into your business as well as a way to get in touch.

Little things, like an outdated contact number for an employee that’s no longer with the company, can lead to a diminished user experience.

A well-optimized landing page is one of the most important features of a business’s site. It’s essentially a distraction-free guide to hone in on the products you serve, presented in an attractive and streamlined fashion. Landing pages are crucial for getting website visitors and turning them into customers. The Alley needed a landing page that was enticing to the senses and prompted tea lovers’ need for high-quality, lightly-caffeinated beverages.

For SEO and Google ranking, it’s important to know which keywords you should be ranking for, which you’re able to rank for, the search volume of key phrases, and how to implement them into your website. Keyword research is as important for your site’s health as having the content there in the first place. Google’s algorithm has gotten quite sophisticated and having a professional team do the research for you can make a world of difference.

SEO ranking, page views, clicks, bounce rate, and where the site visitors are coming from is all critical information to keep track of so you can monitor your business’s traffic. Sercas installed all the proper monitoring software technology so a close eye could be kept on The Alley’s web traffic.

Sercas kept vigilant observation of the site’s performance throughout the weeks and months, so adjustments could be made where things need a little more fine-tuning. Keeping a keen eye on site-traffic reports and reviewing strengths and weaknesses is important for shedding light on the problems.

It’s very difficult to fix an SEO issue if you don’t know where you’re faltering. This information also acts as insurance so that the business gets the results they’re looking for.

Also known as on-site remarketing, this is the method that allows the exact second a viewer is about to leave a business’s site. Pop-ups, email outreach tactics, and display messages featuring coupons or deals — are all part of remarketing. This is a great tool for gently guiding potential customers to make the final push and purchase the product.

The Alley showed dramatic improvements in its user experience and increased its total impressions by 114%. Take a look at their website for yourself here; A clean, appealing aesthetic with subtleties that tells Google to put them on the first page of their local search results.