The SEO industry
is growing out of its adolescence into the realm
of mainstream credibility. After surviving the
infancy and adolescence of the industry, search
engine optimization and placement is just being
recognized as the essential element that can make
or break an online business’ bottom line.
A successful SEO enriched marketing campaign will
require a few simple but crucial elements: timing,
organization and commitment. There are several
search engine placement strategies to choose from.
This SEO plan focuses on achieving traditional
search engine placements and does not address
pay-per-click advertising.
Timing
It happens every November. Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) firms start getting phone calls from online
retailers desperate for traditional Top10 placement
before the Christmas shopping season moves into
full swing, two weeks later. Before considering
the actual work and turn-around time involved
in achieving search engine placements, potential
clients put their service providers in uncomfortable
positions by expecting SEO’s to provide
results within impossible time frames. In many
cases, some SEO providers take these jobs without
letting the client know what to realistically
expect in the hopes the placements will magically
appear before the rush begins. In our case, we
are forced to explain the realities of the situation.
A successful SEO promotion requires time, the
amount of which is dependant upon the competitiveness
of keywords your company has chosen to target,
(“cars” vs. “Pintos in Iceland”),
and the existing popularity of your web site.
For example, if you represent a freshly designed
car sales web site that has not been previously
promoted (no existing online popularity) and your
aim is to achieve Top10 placements under the word
keyword “BMW” within 2 or even 3 months
then you had better rethink your timeline.
Generally speaking a highly searched keyword
with extreme competition will require between
3 and 12 months of aggressive SEO promotion to
obtain desirable listings. Where your company
falls into within the 3 and 12 month target will
depend on just how well promoted your web site
currently is. If your site is already well promoted
and found under other competitive keywords then
you have some power that a SEO company can leverage
towards reaching newer and more competitive keyword
targets and may put your placement goals within
a 3-6 month range.
Companies without existing online popularity
that wish to compete under highly competitive
phrases will need to start from square-one. This
will mean targeting less intensive search phrases
to begin with as well as acquiring textual links
from relevant websites. These initial tactics
will serve to enhance the perceived popularity
of your web site and build the leverage required
to obtain your ultimate keyword goals.
Organization
The act of optimization a web site varies in complexity
depending upon the technologies employed within
your web site’s design and the decision
making structure of your company. As a result,
organization plays a major role in maintaining
crucial optimization and submission timelines
and for achieving ultimate success.
For example, there are many web sites that are
database driven and require special optimization
techniques so that search engines can actually
spider content. These techniques may require access
to specific portions of a web site and/or authorization
from specific employees of a company who are ‘out
of the loop’; without ensuring proper organization
beforehand can causes delays and can wreak havoc
with SEO timelines.
With organizations that have constantly updating
web sites, there are many hurdles that may be
faced by an SEO campaign.
Firstly, if whole pages are added and removed
daily on a web site, then a plan may be implemented
to at least basically optimize content before
addition. This could mean the alteration of META
tags, titles, and heading tags which, although
only basic alterations, can play a key role in
enhancing web site popularity. This type of Communication
becomes a key issue in such cases as this and
will play a major role in creating the desired
environment for success.
Secondly, many online businesses require website
changes made on a seasonal basis. As changes to
an optimized website may put the success of the
promotion in jeopardy, the company webmaster should
make updating the SEO firm an important part of
the process.
Thirdly, constant site updates may present a
version control problem in which the site that
is on the SEO’s hard drive may be radically
different from the modified version of the site.
Again, webmasters should let the SEO provider
know when a change has been made so the provider
would know to download the fresh version of the
website. If a webmaster is unable to contact the
SEO provider, that provider should automatically
download a fresh version of the site each time
they prepare to work on it.
Commitment
Although this seems the simplest element to explain,
there cannot be enough said here to highlight
its importance.
Firstly, SEO promotions inherently take time!
Initial results are not always instantaneous and
will often take 1-3 months. Do not panic and change
the optimization of your web site! Day-to-day
tweaking has long been a thing of the past (since
1997/98 when Infoseek indexed every few hours)
and such alterations could harm your search engine
standings.
Secondly, should the search engines change the
rules without warning (this has and can happen);
your SEO representatives may need to reevaluate
the current status of your promotions. At this
time it is more important than ever to be calm
and listen to the experienced advice that your
SEO Company provides. The reality of the Internet
and the major search engines is that they are
ever-changing and all that an SEO can do in this
situation is to provide advice and re-optimize
content if necessary.
Thirdly, as a veteran SEO I have often be faced
with situations where, despite our initial warnings
on expectations, a client has placed all his/her
eggs in one basket. It is extremely important
that Search Engine Optimization is not the only
advertising medium being used to promote your
business! There is no question that traditional
search engine promotions are a proven and effective
form of promotion; to a degree, however, they
are still governed by chance and Murphy’s
Law. This degree of chance is inevitably dependant
upon the competency of the SEO Company that you
have chosen in combination with the current stability
of the search engines.
Finally, keep the lines of communication between
your SEO’s, your Webmaster, and your Marketing
Staff clean and clear. This requires a commitment
of at least one meeting per month where each party
can ask questions or inform one another of their
current status. This will serve to maintain clarity
throughout the promotion and allow your SEO’s
to raise any concerns regarding inefficiencies
in communication or to note any upcoming changes
in the search engine world. It is important to
note that SEO promotions require continual maintenance
and if your SEO Company smells some winds of change
in the major search engines then it would be a
wise idea to weigh their recommendations before
dismissing them.
In Summary
Planning for an effective SEO campaign should
be a part of a broader marketing strategy. While
top search engine placements will improve the
visibility of your website, it does not translate
in to instant sales. We often tell clients that
we can bring customers to their door but we can’t
make them buy. Even in the Internet environment,
brand recognition and loyalty often help consumers
choose which product to purchase. It helps if
they not only see your website but if they know
your products as well. The easiest way to sum
it all up is in a series of two-word keyword phrases.
Use Timing, Good Organization, Commit Yourself,
Be Patient, and Get Noticed.
Written by
Ross Dunn
CEO/Founder
StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc.
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by Ross Dunn - CEO/Founder StepForth
Search Engine Placement Inc.