After you have researched the benefits and risks of using a SEO campaign, you must decide the best way to implement it. This is where the hard work begins. However, there are steps you can take to ensure your campaign kicks off correctly and provides the best results for your company. These steps need to be followed in a specific order to maximize the benefits of your SEO marketing campaign. Follow this detailed plan and you will be in the top ten search engine results in no time.
How to Begin an Effective SEO Campaign
In order to effectively begin a SEO campaign you need to take some time to develop a step by step plan for your company. Every company will spend a varying amount of time doing each task based on their type of business and desired results. The following guide will provide a basic template to get started.
Research Your Competition
You first need to find out how much competition you are going to have for your business. Based on this information, you will know how extensive your campaign needs to be. You will want to use the internet to search for companies with similar names and companies that offer similar products or services. Use specific keywords that relate to your company. In the search engine, you will see how many sites relate to these terms. Some ways to find out how the competition stacks up are:
Search on engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN
Look at the website they are promoting and search for their keywords.
See which sites they are using as links to build their standing.
Research Which Keywords Work Best
Search Engines use keywords to index websites. Keywords are the phrases that people type into the search engine to find a desired web page. You will need to decide which keys most commonly relate to your business or website. One and two phrase keywords will often bring many results to a search engine results page. However, when a searcher can not find what they are looking for on the first or second results page, they will often and more keywords to their query. Consider the following ways this can affect you website:
A generic keyword like “ice cream” will bring forth results from all over the world. However, a specific flavor can be used to narrow it down to a distributor.
When a searcher is trying to find a local business, they will often include a location like “Ice cream, Chicago” Many people search locally for products they buy on a daily basis.
Many people who submit a search use questions to get answers. For example, “Where to find chocolate ice cream in Chicago?” This should be a consideration in how you choose your keywords or phrases as well.
Implement the Data You Have Discovered
After you have discovered what the competition is doing and how they are doing it, the next step is to do the same thing but do it better. The old saying “if it is not broken, do not try to fix it,” surely applies in this situation. If the competition is ranked repeatedly in the top of the search engine results, use the same techniques to pull your site up there as well. However, take the keywords they are using and use them more effectively. Soon you will surpass them in the standings.
Provide an Informative Web Site that Is Search Engine Friendly
Before you begin any processes to market your website for search engine optimization, you need to first be sure site is ready for the process. There are many aspects of your site that may seem very small, but can greatly affect your rankings. You should ensure the following items have been done:
Ensure the keywords you have found are included throughout your website text.
Include the name of your company on every page. If someone is searching specifically for you, your name must be in the top of the results.
Place your address somewhere on every page. This will increase your results in local searches.
Do not over do it. If you fill your web pages with too many keywords, the search engines may believe you are not providing a legitimate informational site and they will lower your search engine result ranking. The average keyword density should be less than 3% per web page in order to maximize the results.
Send Your Completed Pages to the Search Engines
Most websites now use web crawling software to search through web pages and index them. However, the major search engines like Yahoo, MSN, and Google allow you to submit your website address or a detailed site map. By submitting your website to these search engines, you can speed up the process of indexing your site. Go to the following links to add your submission:
After your site has been setup, optimized, and submitted to the major search engines, you will need to continue to maintain and change your site. As other companies move higher in the rankings and threaten your standings, you will need to make changes to keep your site in the top search engine results. The internet is an ever-changing advertising medium. In the same way local businesses grow and change, internet companies do as well.
Analyze Your Results
You will need to continue to check your status in the search results for the keywords you have chosen. If a keyword is not working, it will need to be changed. There are tools available on the web, such as Google's Web Analytics to see if you are getting results. These tools can tell you how many visitors you are receiving and from which locations they came. Use this data to analyze which tactics work best.
Links Provide an Easy Way to Build Ranking
There are many ways to build links to your website. Links provide a line from websites that search engines will recognize. The more links you have and the higher ranking sites you link to, the better results you will get. Consider that out of the top five sites on the web, two offer the opportunity to link to them at no charge. Consider the following options when building links:
Use Social Sites as Links
According to Alexa, the website tracking site, the top five sites in the United States during 2008 are respectively, Google, Yahoo, Myspace, You Tube, and Facebook. Using this information, you can build pages on Myspace and Facebook for absolutely no cost and link them to your site.
Blog for Results
In order to add more links for your site, you may consider setting up a blog. There are many companies that will allow you to set one up for no charge. You can use this as an advertising venue, but also to provide a link.
Join Associations Related to Your Company
If you have an association available that is related to the field that your company operates in, join it. Most associations will list links for their members at no additional charge. This can also be a great tool when customers are looking for someone in your field.
Keep Up the Great Work
SEO campaigns do not become effective overnight; you must be persistent and steadfast in order to see excellent results. Continue to monitor your site statistics and make adjustments to your strategy.
You should never forget that you have competitors and continue to investigate what strategies they are using to determine if they can help you. Always strive to stay current on what your competitors are doing; how can you expect to out rank them if you don't know where they stand?
Updating your website often is something you must do if you expect to see continued results. As your keywords become ineffective, they need to be replaced. If your business grows, and you add a new location, make sure you add the address to increase you local search results.
You must understand that producing SEO results is a continuous campaign, which must be continued if you desire to build your business in the search results.
Case Study #2
Client: A historic Inn located in Ontario Canada. The company industries included travel, tourism, and eateries.
Challenge: To increase reservations using a website. To use keywords in a way that not only local travelers but people worldwide would find the site and book a reservation. Increase the number of local and regional search results displaying the Inn.
Solution: Increase of the number of local and regional keywords used within the HTML of the website, Submitted to search engines, built links to a minimum of 5 web pages.
Result: With the implementation of the SEO campaign, the Inn was able to achieve over three hundred top ten slots in search engine results. The site also achieved over 150 number one rankings. These ranks resulted in an 85% increase in bookings secured on the website.
