Posts Tagged ‘SEO’
Don’t You Hate This?
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010What to do Once You Make Front Page
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
Many people get tunnel vision when running an SEO campaign. The ears are pinned back and the focus on reaching the coveted front page of Google for a desired keyword is all that is often thought about. But what happens when you are lucky enough to land that prime real estate on the first page of Google?
Don’t Stop
Many companies find a keyword that they believe their business MUST rank for. They do a little research and hire an SEO company to help them get their website featured on the first page of Google search results for that keyword. Their main goal then becomes “how fast can we get to the first page of Google.” The SEO company works their tail off and gets the website to first page.
Now the client is happy and receiving additional traffic and leads. Everything is just peachy. Then a month or so goes by and the client thinks “well, I’m on first page, guess I don’t need to pay for SEO anymore.” They let the SEO company go.
A few months go by and they’re rocking and rolling. Then business slows down. They check Google and notice they have fallen to page 2 or 3 for their main keyword. Crap, what happened!!!???
What happened is they stopped. SEO is not a one time “campaign.” It should be an ongoing process. Always working to gain and keep momentum. Think about it. The company wanted to get to first page. They hired an SEO firm to do that. Now, what do you think their competitors are doing?
The point of all this is to not make your SEO a one off. Make it ongoing. It takes a lot of work to reach optimal rankings, it takes more work to keep those rankings. The moment you stop, you give your competition an open lane to pass you by.
Extend Your Focus
Not only do you want to keep you efforts up for “maintenance mode,” but you want to extend your focus as well. Ever heard “don’t put your eggs in one basket?” This too applies to SEO. Don’t just pick one popular keyword and stop there.
Find a dozen or more keywords that are relevant to your website and business and optimize for those too. Always research to find new online opportunities whether it be additional keywords, social media avenues, press releases, video and even email marketing.
True success in the online space comes from constant efforts to improve search engine visibility.
Why SEO Alone is Being Phased Out
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Is SEO dead? Not hardly. SEO is more important than it ever was before due to the large percentage of businesses online today. But is SEO the determining factor for a websites success? Today’s businesses need to employ a full arsenal of online marketing strategies to be successful.
SEO
SEO is the foundation of any solid online marketing strategy. A well optimized site puts the business in position to be found by thousands of potential customers who are actively searching for what you offer. SEO is a strong force for a websites success, but it isn’t the only online marketing tactic that will drive qualified traffic.
Social Media
SEO is perfect for pulling in targeted visitors to your site, although search engine optimization takes time. Social media is a great way to get your message to the masses fast. Social media helps you connect with your audience, gives your business a voice and allows your messages an opportunity to go viral. A well planned social media strategy can send thousands of visitors to your website in a short period of time building brand awareness and new backlinks to your site.
Email Marketing
How to you maximize your contacts and leads? Email marketing. Create campaigns to stay in front of your prospects and customers so you increase the chances of repeat visitors and conversions. Use marketing emails to educate and promote. Add social media elements to your email marketing to really maximize your reach.
PR
The lines between social media and PR are beginning to blur a little. Both are effective and work in similar ways. Use press releases on a regular basis to announce new news about your company and industry. Solid PR can spread your messages to the masses.
Add diversity to your online marketing campaigns and you’ll notice a steady stream of web traffic coming from multiple sources. Think of these strategies as long term commitments instead of short term campaigns. Measure, tweak and analyze to increase your conversions and build a successful website and thriving business.
Don’t just stop with SEO, add other online marketing activities to the mix. SEO is not being phased out, but being added to creating more well rounded online marketing efforts.
Is Link Building the Currency of the Internet?
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
The tides in the marketing arena have shifted and most marketers and business owners now see the value of SEO. Search engine optimization encompasses so much and there is a lot to be done to build a thriving web presence. But of all the tasks an online marketer does, which ones are most important and have the most value?
Build your foundation first
Link building is one of the biggest determining factors for SEO performance. That being said, if your website is not properly optimized, link building can only carry you so far. Onsite optimization is almost like your steering wheel, directing the search engines on how to properly index your pages and which terms to rank you for. Links can be thought of as the gasoline that keeps your engine running and vehicle moving ahead. Onsite SEO guides and inbound links are the moving force.
An arms race
In my opinion, inbound links have become the new currency of the Internet. It’s like a virtual arms race between competing sites. Whoever has the most and best inbound links wins the top positions in the search engine rankings.
There are so many different ways to build inbound links. Link diversity is key. Quantity is key. Quality is key. There is so much going on. You want to match the links your competitors have. You want to find new inbound links that your competitors don’t have. There are high PR links, authority links, high traffic links, the list goes on and on.
The important thing to remember is to stay relevant online, your link building campaign should be an ongoing process not a one time thing. More and more companies are doing SEO. The minute you stop building fresh inbound links to your websites is the time when your competition leaps ahead of you.
Don’t be left behind. Make your link building campaign permanent and commit to it.
Is your Website Just Competitive, or a Winner?
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010The other night I watched the NIT Men’s Basketball Championship between UNC and Dayton. The first thing I noticed is this is not a UNC team like I remember watching in the past. They were playing, but it didn’t appear that they were playing to win. No real EXTRA effort.
That being said, what are you doing with your website? Are you doing just enough to be competitive, or are you doing EXTRA things that will put you above your competitors?
Competition
The internet is a now a very crowded place to be, much like a basketball tournament. Many teams and websites competing for the number one spot. What determines who achieves this spot? The answer is effort. The team that puts in the extra time in practice will normally beat the team that did not. The team that puts in the extra time wants it more. Do you want success for your website?
How do you achieve success with your website?
I think you might know what I’m going to say next. You’re right, EXTRA EFFORT. Successful websites are those that receive constant attention. This can result from many different things. For example, are you building links on an ongoing and consistent basis? If you are, chances are you can see the results it brings. If you’re not, you might have a website that is competitive, but not a winner. Your site might be on second or third page Google for your desired keywords. Are you happy with that?
Do you know where your website even ranks for keywords that can bring you leads, sales and revenue? Just having a website now is pretty much just par for the course. If you do extra things like search engine optimization, your website can become one of your best salespeople.
Google some terms that you think your potential customers would use to find a product or service that you provide. The websites that you see on the front page, especially those above the fold, are generating visitors that most likely convert into customers. If your website is not one of those, then your competition has been working harder and smarter than you and they are reaping the benefits. They are doing the EXTRA things that separate a mediocre business from a successful one.
It’s time for a change
If you are not happy with the results (or lack there of) from your website, do something about it and do it now. Put together a web strategy that will put you on top. Find out what your competitors have done to earn top positions for the revenue generating keywords that you desire. Now, go and do all of those things and most importantly, DO MORE! The only way to have more success is to go that extra mile and do those extra things that your competitors aren’t doing.
This could be a number of things. Maybe they have a lot of links, but not a blog. If that’s the case, build a blog and fill it with great content. Or, commit to an ongoing link building strategy that will bring you more links than your competition. Don’t have the time or manpower, outsource it.
Championship teams don’t practice to compete, they practice to win. If your business chooses to have a website, why not build a great website and promote it so much that it stomps your competition?
Why Link Building is Important
Monday, March 29th, 2010Link building is one of the most important parts of SEO. Having a strong and ongoing link building campaign is one of the best ways to ensure the success of your website. Inbound links can be thought of as the currency of the internet. The more you have, the stronger your web presence.
Not all links are created equal
I know, I just said that the more links the merrier right, well that is a somewhat of a catch. Not all inbound links are created equal. Some websites that link to you could actually hurt your rankings. For example, a link from a website that is blacklisted by the search engines could have a negative impact. Also, sites that contain viruses, malware or link farms should be avoided as well.
Inbound links also carry different benefits. Links from websites with a high Page Rank can have a big impact while those with no Page Rank would have very little impact. Inbound links from authority sites prove valuable as well.
Some sites make their outbound links “nofollow,” meaning no link juice is passed to your site. It is important to know how to tell the difference so that you are not wasting your time building links that provide little or no benefit. Not to be confusing, but there can be some benefits from no-follow links such as those that send a lot of traffic your way.
Higher search engine rankings
Inbound links have some of the highest influence in search engine algorithms, especially Google’s. The more quality inbound links you have, the better your chances of ranking well in the search engines for your keywords of choice.
It is also important to try to have well chosen anchor text in your links. This of course will not be possible for many, but keep this in mind for the links you have control over. I highly recommend that you use your targeted keyword for that specific page. I also recommend that you pick 2-3 different keywords to use for your anchor text for your specific page. You want your link building campaign to look natural and one sided anchor text doesn’t look very natural to the search engines. Diversity is the key to a successful link building strategy.
More natural traffic
Inbound links will send natural traffic to your website or blog in many different ways. Like I mentioned above, lots of quality inbound links can lead to higher search rankings. Higher search rankings can lead to increased traffic.
Each link in itself can send traffic to your website as well. Each link is an individual doorway to your page. Every inbound link is another opportunity to get more traffic, you get the point.
Ongoing
Link building should be an ongoing process. Many businesses don’t have the capacity to keep up with an ongoing link building campaign. The good news is that link building and SEO can be outsourced. Be sure to do your research and hire a professional and experienced company. Think New Creative Solutions offers a wealth of industry experience that can help you generate targeted traffic that converts and can prove it with industry leading web analytics.
