SEO, when done right, will yield the best ROI of any marketing you will do.
Search Engine Optimization
90% of the millions of consumers searching online for products and services click on a link somewhere on the first page of search results.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your website’s placement in search engines like Google, Yahoo & Bing in the organic or free listings. Google is the largest marketplace your potential customers are using to find your goods and/or services and making sure your website is in front of their face when they perform searches is pivotal to growing your business.
As stated above, SEO is a process, a process that will not happen overnight. If you are looking for an overnight solution to being listed at the top of major search engines then Pay Per Click will be your desired service. SEO is for the business owner that is interested in a long term, consistent traffic solution for their business. Below are just a few things I consider when implementing an SEO campaign:Find Your Niche
This is one of the most important steps in creating a successful seo strategy. What is the product or service that you are selling? It seems extremely obvious but you need to make sure and be specific because it will make all the difference in the world. For example, if you own a Honda car dealership in Phoenix you may think that you would like to come up for terms like “cars in phoenix” or “phoenix car dealership”. While these terms would yield traffic and sales, you would be much better off going after terms like “honda cars for sale phoenix” or “phoenix honda dealers”. The reasoning for this is that not only will the competition be reduced significantly yielding quicker results but you will also be receiving your target demographic which will result in much higher conversions. High traffic numbers look great but conversions will put money in your pocket.
“SEO is all about relevant content and giving the user what they’re looking for. Don’t try to capture the market for product a, b & c if you’re only selling product a, it doesn’t make sense.”
Keyword Research
Now that the target demographic is identified, it is time to do some keyword research and find out what users are searching for that relate to what you are selling. More often than not, the keyword tool you are using will reassure your assumption about what the popular keywords are. In my opinion that is not the most important factor of keyword research. Finding long-tail(longer, more specific search phrases) and integrating them not only into your site copy but link building campaign is pivotal for optimum results.
SEO Copy/Text
SEO friendly copy or text on your website isn’t about repeating your targeted keywords every sentence. It’s about having a proper balance or density of keywords and then variations of those words. Just like how “Kids say the darndest things”;
Consumers are searching the darndest things and by providing a variation of your keywords and similar terms throughout your copy you are opening up to a much larger audience.
Link Building
Many refer to link building as the most important factor when it comes to ranking a website. Link building is the process of building quality, relevant links back to your website. You can view getting links back to your website much like someone vouching for your business. That means that relevancy is much more important than quantity. The example I often give to my clients is: “Do you think it’s more important to have Opera say your product is great or your neighbor down the street?” The answer is a no-brainer but knowing how to get quality links back to your website isn’t easy so this is where hiring a professional seo company pays dividends.
Article/Press Release SEO
You have a new product/service so tell people about it. There are hundreds if not thousands of resources out there where you can publish a free press release or article but knowing which ones to post to and how to post makes a big difference. Some allow links back to your website, some don’t, some carry more weight than others, some allow certain tags to show more relevancy for your topic which helps in the SERPS(search engine results pages). Optimizing an article properly is an art that looks good not only to consumers but to search engines as well.
Fresh Content
Google loves it. What’s fresh, what’s hot? People want to know and so do search engines. This usually comes in the form of blogging and with so many free blogging platforms out there now-a-days there is no excuse not to have one. Building up a quality blog over an extended period of time will not only increase your traffic but also strengthen your internal link structure, granted you are linking back to your site throughout blog posts, and build your “trust rank” in Google’s eyes establishing your website as a great resource in your category. Fresh content doesn’t mean everyday, there just needs to be a consistent effort of 3-4 blogs per month and make them count, something people will want to read.Mobile SEO
It’s getting bigger everyday. People are doing virtually everything from their phone these days. Are consumers going to be able to view your website on their mobile or smart phone? Do you have enough traffic or customers to justify building a custom app to better serve them? These are just a couple questions you need to ask yourself because this is just another example of how you can distance yourself from your competition in an ever-changing market and you don’t want to be left behind.
Website Analytics
After going through all the trouble of driving traffic to a website it sure would be a shame not to have detailed analytic reports telling you who’s visiting, where they’re visiting from and where they came from. Luckily all that information is available on every project I work on. You will have direct access to everything from where people came from to what they typed in on Google to what search engine gives you the most traffic. This information is crucial for marketing campaigns and tells you what works and what doesn’t.
