Security Direct UK stock, customise, and sell physical security solutions including security doors, roller shutters, wall spikes and much more. They deliver across the UK and install within a smaller radius.

They have over 25 years’ experience in their industry and have a clear understanding of their customer base and target demographics.

What Was the Problem?

Security Direct came to us having become dissatisfied with their existing SEO provider. They felt that their provider wasn’t bringing anything new to the table, and that their old techniques were no longer efficient enough.

Digital marketing is a rapidly evolving field, and there’s no guarantee that tactics which were successful in the past will remain successful. In particular, methods of ‘spamming’ your site to a higher search position are now actively harmful to website performance. These are practices we’ve never advocated – in fact, novi.digital was founded in response to these poor practices.

They also wanted to outsource their PPC management, which at that time they were running in-house. Achieving a good ROI with PPC is a process that requires a lot of time given over to repetitive bid management tasks. To build a truly successful PPC campaign requires experience, research, and creativity as well.

We actually began work with their PPC campaign while they waited for their existing provider’s long-term contract to run out. Again, this isn’t a practice we advocate for. Our contracts have short notice periods; our clients stay with us due to the ROI we provide.

We were strongly recommended to them due to our reputation in the industry. They approached us with a view to having their SEO and PPC under one roof. This approach produces better results.  If you develop a combined strategy, the two are stronger than the sum of their parts.

Security Direct say: “We used to have a company that focused on PPC… and another one that did SEO. We wanted one company to manage all of those initiatives.”

How Did We Resolve It?

While their existing provider’s SEO contract took some months to elapse, Security Direct wanted to get started as quickly as possible. We took over their PPC campaign immediately.

After reviewing the data it had already accumulated we got to work. We phased out poorly-performing keywords, carried out keyword research to identify new prospects, and overhauled their bids, making sure they were spending appropriately based on a calculated target cost-per-enquiry. Our goal was to bring in more clicks from visitors more likely to convert, and this is exactly what we’ve done.

In doing this we worked closely with Security Direct, making the most of access to an experienced sales team. They were able to tell us what phrases customers use during their buyers’ journey, which gave us a fantastic starting point for keyword research.

We carried out a CRO consultancy project, focusing on improving the conversion rate across all site traffic.

Security Direct say: “On the PPC side, they reviewed what we were currently doing and came up with a new strategy. We started focusing on certain areas of the country more than others. We reviewed all the keywords that were being used.

“We also spoke to them about customers using the website. We do a lot of the website internally and have our own terminology. It was good to have them look at it to see how things flow and what information we had. They spent some time altering the site from a user’s point of view including colours, logos, contact details, etc.

“They just started a new keyword list. They reviewed it all and monitor conversions closely. They’re on top of everything a lot more. The problem with large digital agencies is you’re just a number. You have an account manager and their software turns everything out. Novi has their own systems. They use some automation, which is necessary, but they have a personal touch as well.”

What Were the Outcomes?

By the time their previous service provider’s SEO contract had elapsed, we were already seeing impressive gains through the PPC campaign. We set about to improve organic search performance, using the data we’d already acquired.

Where their previous provider had focused on blogs and infographics, our content strategy was broader. While we continued to produce blogs, we also began to optimise their existing pages. This was done to improve these pages’ search engine quality score.

Quality score is a factor in calculating organic search rankings. It’s also used in PPC calculations. A visitor is more likely to appreciate a page with a high quality score, so these pages receive a reduced cost per click (CPC). This means that the same PPC budget results in more visitors and more potential customers.

Bringing the same data-driven approach to their SEO strategy as we had to the PPC campaign, we began by targeting the growing location-based search market. We created content to alert these users to the fact Security Direct serves their area.

Local search (“…near me”) is a growing sector of the digital marketplace. It’s especially important for mobile traffic. Making sure that the site is well-placed to capture its share of this market is a key step in improving the performance of our campaigns.

The PPC campaign is producing a high ROI, and organic search metrics are all improving. This is a solid base to continue to build on. Actions taken because of our CRO consultancy project have streamlined the customer journey for visitors to Security Direct’s site. This has led both to improved visitor engagement and to fewer potential customers leaving the site before making contact to buy.

Security Direct say: “We’ve seen an increase in the quantity and quality of inquiries, which is how I judge their performance. Things are getting tweaked all the time… They know what my budget is and how to get the best conversion [rate].

“They have the efficiency of bigger agencies. They know what they’re doing and have people that specialize in certain areas. There is also a personal touch because they’re not too big. With the big digital agencies, you don’t know what they actually do for you… We can actually speak to the person taking care of a specific service. With big agencies, you speak to one account manager and get nowhere.”

What’s Next?

As with all our clients. we’re continuing to refine and evolve our campaigns, focusing on the clients target Customers. Our close connection with the client makes it much easier to collate data as we can check with their team as to any changes within their industry and adapt our campaigns to suit

The client has a new website in development and we’ve been consulting on its design from the off, working to make sure it’s SEO friendly. This step usually results in improvements across the board, especially if it had been some years since the last site revamp.

We’ve been steadily tightening our focus to achieve more useful inquiries. We do this by working with Security Direct to identify target demographics and ideal customers. We then carry out research to ensure we’re targeting those customers directly.

Security Direct carries a wide range of products which appear superficially similar. We’re working with them to differentiate these products by individual USP (Unique Selling Point) to better promote them.

Security Direct say: “The most important KPI–quantity and quality of inquiries have increased. In contrast to a big agency, Novi.digital provides a personal touch. It’s always clear who is responsible for what initiative, making communication seamless and efficient.”