Search Engine Optimization Success Tips
To succeed at marketing any business you must focus on achieving high “ROI”, or Return on Investment. Simply put, spending your marketing dollars intelligently to maximize your returns.
Millions of businesses that depend on the Internet to connect with prospective buyers for their products and services have found that few forms of marketing can deliver the return on investment of properly managed and executed search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a Web site from search engines via "natural" search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. Web sites that appear on the first search engine results page, for commonly searched keywords, on Google and Yahoo can achieve significant traffic and maybe revenue.
There are thousands of online marketing companies that offer services designed to help Web sites achieve higher rankings by making them more “search engine friendly” and using other techniques such as generating content and building links to make Web sites more prominent.
So whether you work with an outside firm or handle your own search engine optimization, here are the factors you should focus on to ensure that your SEO program is a success:
1. Make sure that your business and marketing objectives are clearly communicated to the individual or firm handling your SEO program
2. Spend a lot of time on understanding the keywords that your clients use to find you and test different keywords. There is no step that is more important than this. Google offers a great keyword tool that can help you see traffic for particular key words.
3. Understand how the search engines leverage keywords and what they emphasize. Quality content and links to your Web site from relevant and prominent Web sites are very important.
4. Put the time in to develop the time to build the relevant content and links needed to raise the visibility of your Web site.
5. Make sure that your Web site landing pages are relevant to the keywords that your clients are using to find you. If they find your Vegas timeshare Web site when searching for “exotic destinations”, you may have a difficult time converting many visitors into clients.
If you decide to use an outside vendor for your company’s search engine optimization, here are some of the considerations you should focus on:
1. Some SEO firms charge a lot because of their reputations, but you may be able to achieve the same results for a fraction of the cost if you are able to identify a newer, but very talented firm
2. There are some “fly by night companies” that promise first page rankings, but do so for keywords that do not generate considerable traffic or conversions. This is why it is important for you to have a basic education on the SEO process prior to engaging a company, so you can sort the value from the fluff
3. Appreciate that SEO results often take several months, or as much as a year for very competitive keywords. Experienced online marketing firms can work miracles, but not overnight. Keep an eye on your keyword rankings and make sure that they are going in the right direction.
4. There is a degree of skill required for SEO, but understand that with the amount of content available on the Internet the learning curve is very short for most firms. Very often success comes down to the time that is put into your program, so definitely focus on getting the greatest value for your marketing dollars.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Zissu
John Zissu is the President and Founder of LitigatorEdge Marketing. We specialize in high return on investment lawyer Internet marketing strategies.
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Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer.For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
