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Your site talks about your tools
It lists languages, libraries and methodologies. Your client, meanwhile, is searching for how to stop re-keying orders by hand.
Home / Industries / Digital businesses
SEO for digital businesses: your own website deserves clients too.
You build websites, software or apps for others, and your own has been waiting for two years. That's normal: client projects come first. It's also why a competitor who's not as good as you ranks higher.
- Rattle your competitors.
- Overtake them.
- Protect you from their attacks.
15 years in SEO
4 books on SEO and GEO
200+ sites tracked every day
1M / month visits to my e-commerce site
They trusted me with their visibility
Darty
Eurofins
Cegid
EBP
CNP Assurances
Ingram MicroThe detail of this page
Seven agencies, one script
Type “web agency” followed by your town. Six results promise bespoke digital experiences. The seventh is you, and you say the same thing. Change the sentence, then climb.
- Agency no. 1 · agency-1.exampleWeb agency | Creators of digital experiences
- Agency no. 2 · agency-2.exampleDigital agency | Your growth partner
- A directory · agency-directory.exampleThe best web agencies in your town
- Agency no. 3 · agency-3.exampleWeb agency | Tailor-made solutions
- Agency no. 4 · agency-4.exampleDigital agency | Strategy, design, development
- Agency no. 5 · agency-5.exampleWeb agency | Bringing your projects to life
- Youyour-agency.exampleWeb agency for building tradespeople: websites and appointment bookingIt's all we do. Websites that bring in quote requests, measured every month.
Your position: 7
Fig. 1. Seven agencies. Six bring projects to life. (The cobbler's children go barefoot, as they say. So do his competitors', which leaves you a chance.)
What this means for you. You know how to do it for your clients. I do it for you: find what you do that others don't say, and put it in the title.
What is SEO for digital businesses?
SEO for digital businesses is the search optimisation of a web agency, a software publisher, an IT services company or a freelancer for the searches their future clients make. These searches rarely concern a technology and almost always concern a problem, a business need or a comparison between solutions. The work therefore consists of translating technical know-how into pages that a business owner or a department head understands, then backing them up with evidence.
The problem
Three flaws of agency and software websites.
Everyone says the same thing
Tailor-made, agile, attentive, passionate. Swap your logo for a competitor's and nobody would notice the difference, Google included.
Enquiries come in fits and starts
A referral, a tender, then a long silence. The pipeline depends on the partners' network, which doesn't stretch.
An audit, for real
What I spot in thirty seconds on an agency website.
The site below doesn't exist, but its flaws do: they're the five I spot most often. Hover over a number.
https://votre-agence.exemple
STUDIO N.Expertise · Projects · The agency · Contact
Creators of digital experiences
We support ambitious brands in their transformation.
Let's talk about your projectFig. 2. Fictional site, reconstructed. Any resemblance to yours would be a good reason to call me.
- 1The same title as two hundred other agencies“Digital agency” with no town or speciality: you're competing with the whole country.
- 2Twelve areas of expertise, so noneWebsites, SEO, social, video, branding… Visitors can't tell what you do best. Neither can Google.
- 3A sentence anyone could sign in your placeReplace it with what you do, for whom, with a figure: “Appointment-booking websites for tradespeople”.
- 4A mood video as the backgroundIt's heavy and says nothing. It's often the number one cause of a slow agency website.
- 5Case studies with no results“Full redesign” proves nothing. A useful case study states the problem, what was done, and what it brought in.
What your customers type
What your future clients search for.
Six possible phrasings, quoted as examples and not measured. They have one thing in common: none contains the name of a programming language or a development tool.
- 1“scheduling software for construction”
- They want a solution for their trade, not software in general. A publisher needs one page per sector served, with that sector's vocabulary and screenshots.
- 2“alternative to” followed by a competitor's name
- They already use a tool and they're unhappy with it. An honest comparison page, one that also says when the other solution is still the better choice, convinces more than a table where you win on every line.
- 3“website design agency” and their town
- They want to be able to meet someone. Google Business Profile, a local page and work for nearby businesses matter more here than the list of your skills.
- 4“how much does a mobile app cost”
- They're preparing a budget and afraid of being ripped off. Whoever frankly explains what makes the price vary, with orders of magnitude they stand behind, gets the call.
- 5“connect my online shop to my management software”
- They have a specific problem and describe it in their own words. One page per use case, describing the starting situation and the outcome, captures these rare, highly qualified searches.
- 6“managed IT services provider SME reviews”
- They have a shortlist and are checking reputations. Your reviews, your named case studies and what third-party sites say about you clinch the decision.
What works
What works in digital, and why.
Pages per problem
Every situation you know how to fix deserves its own page: the need, your approach, the result. It's the opposite of an “Expertise” page with twelve icons, and it's what your clients type.
Case studies
In your line of work, people buy a service they can't see beforehand. A detailed case study, with the client's name when they agree, the context, what was delivered and what it changed, is worth more than any promise. It also provides precise text that nobody else has.
Comparisons and “alternative to” pages
For a software publisher, these are often the pages closest to the sale. They take courage: saying where you're better and where you're not. Readers can tell the difference very well.
Pages per sector
The same software or service sells differently to an accountancy firm and to a haulier. One page per sector served, with its own examples, multiplies the entry points without multiplying the products.
Documentation and expert content
Your teams know things few people know. A solid technical article, signed by the person who wrote it, attracts links and mentions you'd never have got by asking for them.
What costs dearly
Common mistakes among web professionals.
A website rebuilt every two years
Every redesign changes the URLs, loses pages and resets the counter to zero. The look gets a facelift, and nobody asks what the pages were bringing in.
A tech-news blog nobody searches for
What's new in the latest version of a tool interests your developers, not your buyers. Write for the people who sign the quotes.
A site too clever for Google
Everything loads in JavaScript, with animations everywhere, and the search engine struggles to read the content. An agency website must first be readable, including by a bot.
References shown as logos
A row of logos says neither what you did nor what came of it. Three case studies told properly beat thirty badges.
The method
My work with a digital business.
You know your tools better than I do. My role lies elsewhere: choosing the topics, the angle and the order.
- Positioning. Who you sell to, what, and against whom. Without that sentence, no page holds up.
- Problems. The list of situations your clients are trying to solve, then one page for each.
- Evidence. Case studies, reviews, mentions on third-party sites: what a buyer checks before getting in touch.
- Leads. We track demo and quote requests, and where they come from.
One-minute test
Is SEO right for you?
Five frank questions to find out whether support makes sense in your situation. Sometimes the answer is no, and I'll tell you.
What it brings in
SEO you can count in euros.
A ranking doesn't pay a salary. What counts is what it brings: enquiries, customers, revenue. Move your page up and see what it could bring in.
Example assumptions, open to challenge: 400 searches a month for an agency like yours, 3% of visitors make an enquiry, one enquiry in three is signed (this varies a lot from one trade to another), €5,000 per client. Click-through rates by position are orders of magnitude, and they've been shifting since Google started showing AI answers above the results. Redo the calculation with your own figures
What your page could bring in
Ticket no. 10th · worked example- Searchesper month, for an agency like yours
- 400
- Estimated visitsclick-through rate: 1.5%
- 0
- Potential enquiries3% of visitors
- 0
- Possible customersone enquiry in three
- 0
Possible revenue€0
Close to home
Digital businesses in Charente.
Angoulême is known for images: comics, animation, and the studios and schools that go with them. A web agency, a freelance developer or a software publisher based here can serve businesses in the département, clients all over France, or both. Being in Charente is neither an asset nor a drawback; online, it's what you make of it. I live between Cognac and Paris, so I'm in the same boat as you.
The agency serving local businesses
Its clients are tradespeople, shops and SMEs in Charente who want someone within driving distance. Here local SEO matters: Google Business Profile, town pages, work for names people recognise.
The studio working for the whole of France
Animation, imagery, development: its clients are elsewhere. Its website needs to rank on a skill, and its Charente address only comes into play for recruiting.
The freelancer
They don't have time to maintain a thirty-page website, and they don't need one. A clearly stated speciality, three projects told properly and a consistent profile from one platform to the next already go a long way.
Beyond Google
Your clients already compare providers with an AI.
Your clients are among the first to use it. A finance director writes to ChatGPT: “there are forty of us, we're looking for an expense management tool that connects to our accounting, which ones should we compare?”. They get a shortlist and criteria. When it's about a service provider, the question becomes: “which agency should rebuild a manufacturer's website, with a technical catalogue?”.
AI tools build these answers from what they read about you and, above all, from what others say about you: comparisons, software review sites, trade press, provider directories, public documentation. A clear, consistent description of what you do, and for whom, counts for more than a slogan. It's an area where a small, well-described company can be cited alongside much bigger players, and I've co-written two books on how to get there.
Question put to an AIWhich web agency specialises in websites for building tradespeople?
Answer
Three agencies position themselves in this niche:
- Our client— specialist agency: websites and appointment booking for tradespeople, case studies with figures.
- — generalist agency, all sectors, varied references.
- — subscription website provider, standard templates.
Agency websiteCase studiesAgency directory
Fig. 3. Reconstruction, names hidden. This is the spot we aim for: on the list, with the most precise description.
Three typical cases
Three digital profiles.
Examples made up for illustration, with no link to any existing client. They give the order of the first actions.
A management software publisher
It has good clients, all of whom came through the founder's network.
- Create one page per sector served, with its screenshots and vocabulary.
- Publish frank comparisons with the two or three tools it's up against.
- Get the software listed and described on the comparison sites AI tools consult.
A web agency of about ten people
It responds to tenders and would like to receive direct enquiries.
- Pick two specialities and display them, instead of offering everything.
- Tell the story of a few projects in detail, results included.
- Overhaul the Google Business Profile and local pages for nearby searches.
A freelance developer
They depend on two clients and on freelance platforms.
- Write a home page that says in one sentence what they do and for whom.
- Detail three assignments, with the clients' agreement.
- Publish a few articles on their speciality, where their clients will read them.
In practice
What you get.
- A positioning statement, and the pages that follow from it
- The list of client problems to tackle, ranked by value
- A case study template your project managers can fill in
- A plan for comparisons and sector pages
- Tracking of demo and quote requests
Pricing
How much does an SEO consultant cost?
The fee depends on four things. I give you a precise amount after a free first thirty-minute conversation.
- The size of the site: ten pages or ten thousand
- The competition on your queries
- What you can do in-house, and what needs producing for you
- The pace you want
Fancy a game?
Insert a coin.
Clickbait titles, fake reviews, copied pages: your market is a jungle. Grab the piece and slide it into the slot.
Slide it into the machine
THE SEARCH JUNGLE
INSERT COINSLIDE THE COIN INTO THE SLOT
Credit: 0
Fig. 4. Sixteen seconds. Ten snakes for one spot, as usual.
Together, let's devour your competitors.
One by one, and in order. Every spot gained makes the next one easier to take: that's why it keeps growing. See the method
Who you're talking to
Your SEO consultant: a business owner, not just an SEO.
My name is Kévin Papot. More than fifteen years in the job, four co-written books, and the Newp agency, co-founded in Charente. I also run my own online shops, in France and internationally: one of them went from zero to a million visits a month.
Before we talk tags, we talk margin, average basket and profitability. When you book a call, I'm the one who picks up.
FAQ
The questions agencies and software publishers ask.
We know how to build websites. Why bring in an SEO consultant?
Because building a website and getting it found are two different jobs, and because it's hard to see your own clearly. You bring the technical side, I bring the choice of topics and an outside view. Usually the project finally moves forward because someone is steering it.
We sell SEO to our clients. Isn't it awkward to consult you?
No, and it's more common than you'd think. Doctors have doctors too. What we say to each other stays between us.
Should we target local or national searches?
It depends on who buys from you. An agency serving businesses in its region should own its town. A software publisher or a specialist studio targets the whole of France on its skills, and sometimes both coexist.
Our clients refuse to be named. How do we do case studies?
We tell the story without the name: the sector, the size, the problem, the solution, the result. It's less powerful than a well-known name, but far more useful than a row of logos. And we raise the question of being named as soon as the next contract is signed.
Should we really write comparison pages against our competitors?
For a software publisher, yes, because your buyers look for them and someone else will write them in your place. The condition is to stay accurate and measured. A bad-faith comparison soon backfires on its author.
Our website is a JavaScript application. Is that a problem?
Not necessarily, but it needs checking. Google reads JavaScript with varying success, and AI crawlers often even less well. I check what they actually see and tell you what needs to be served differently.
Our developers don't have time to write.
They don't have to. An interview with one of them provides the material for an article, which my agency's team writes and they proofread. Their byline stays, and so does their time.
Does SEO help with recruitment?
Yes, indirectly. A candidate looks at your website, your projects and what people say about you before applying. Technical content signed by your teams attracts profiles like theirs.
We sell an expensive service with a long sales cycle. How do we measure?
We track incoming enquiries and where they come from, then what becomes of them in your CRM. With few sales a year, we reason in terms of the value of open deals rather than traffic curves.
What kinds of digital businesses have you worked with?
Software publishers, including large accounts, agencies and freelancers. My agency, Newp, looks after more than 200 websites, and I run my own. The references are on this site, and I can tell you more about them in person.
See also
Other industries
ConstructionJewelleryManufacturingSmall businesses & SMEsPlumbersElectriciansRoofersBuildersSolar panelsHeat pumpsAir conditioningJoinersPrivate clinicsHair removal centresAesthetic medicine and surgeryLocksmithsPool buildersKitchen fittersEnergy renovationOpticiansHearing aid specialistsAccountantsLawyersRemoval companiesLandscapersRestaurantsBarsCaterersEvent agenciesCoachesHypnotherapistsSophrologistsBeauty and hair salonsGarages and body shopsEstate agentsProperty surveyorsDriving schoolsNotariesArchitectsFuneral directorsHotels and B&BsBathroomsPainters and decoratorsTilersConservatories and pergolasCarpentersFacade specialistsStoves and fireplacesAlarms and CCTVGyms and studiosBrokersPhotographersWines and spiritsCar dealershipsTraining providersRecruitment agenciesCleaning companiesSoftware publishersFloristsBakeries and patisseriesWine shopsTravel agenciesCampsites and outdoor accommodationPrintersCommunication agenciesHauliers and logistics firmsWellbeing practitionersNaturopathsWellbeing massage practitionersYoga teachersWellbeing training providersSophrology schoolsHypnosis schoolsCoaching schools
Support services
SEO consultant in Charente
30 minutes · video call · with me
Be the one they remember.
Together we look at where you stand on Google and in AI, and what should change first.
Book a callFig. 5. A K. (The landscape was missing one.)