Entries Tagged 'strategy' ↓
March 4th, 2012 — strategy
Who doesn’t want to be an “authority” on the Internet? Your company certainly does, and strategy is the way to get there.
I was thrilled to come across a terrific infographic by Vertical Measures that shows the key parts of the “machinery” you need to run today to be an online authority, focusing on:
1. Content - encompassing blogs, videos, webinars, infographics, whitepapers, ebooks, presentations, press releases
2. Social Media - such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Digg
3. Link Building - which includes sitelinks, powerhouse links such as .gov and .edu, etc.
In my opinion, the third pillar is too often overlooked these days, living as it does in the shadow of the newer, sexier siblings, social media and online content. But gaining credible links into your site, as well as strategically linking out to relevant and authoritative sites - is a key aspect of being a winner on the Internet.
Click on the image below for a full view of this amazing infographic!
What do you think? Sound like too much work to build authority for your website, or are you all the way in? Leave your comments here.
July 3rd, 2008 — strategy
I came across an article the other day that nicely spells out the 10 Commandments of Search Engine Optimization. The ‘commandments’ are all good and true and well-tested by time… but there’s a very important edict missing:
#11. Thou Shalt Not Cease SEO
Without the ongoing commitment of SEO work, the Google juice that your web pages receive dries up - and you are no longer assured Page 1 rankings for your website. You’ve got to keep squeezing the SEO fruit!
Some fundamentals that must go on (forever) to keep your web presence top-of-mind for searchers:
- Link Building: Article marketing, directory submissions, blogger outreach… it takes time and smarts to get those quality inbound links to your site from other authority sites.
- Keywords: Gotta stay on top of search terms being used by your prospects; are they changing? did you get the best ones?
- Content addition: blog posts, case studies, whitepapers, press releases, product specials, etc. appearing on your site with regularity - and written with those latest keywords you’ve found.
Too busy to do all this, week after week? Fortunately, SEO experts can save you time and get it right the first time - no wasted efforts, and maximum results in page rankings.
Fail to follow the 11th Commandment - Thy Shalt Not Cease SEO - and your greatest sin will occur: sliding off page 1 of Google search results!
June 23rd, 2008 — strategy
A little bit doesn’t always go a long way… and ’semi’ SEO is a good example.
A retailer hired me to do Search Engine Optimization on 2 new pages for their site; I researched keywords, edited the content, wrote metacontent, and built links for the pages - all about 2 new products they want to become brand leaders in.
The goal is brand leadership
No part of their site was getting found online - their best showing was on page 7 of Google search results - but the company owners said they didn’t have the budget to get SEO across the entire site… just those 2 pages.
Glowing new SEO pages outshine the rest
I love what my daughter said when I told her about the semi-SEO job: “But you can’t get just one leg tanned!” (Leave it to a teen to use an analogy involving cosmetic improvement!) But she makes a good point..
The few pages that got my SEO services look awesome, especially in comparison to the site’s other pages of circa-2004 style web writing (read “electronic brochure). My sparkling new SEO pages feature:
A good tan takes maintenance, or it fades away
If you think that once you get a good tan, you’re done… think again. Constant attention and effort must be paid or your glow will fade away.
SEO is a neverending story. Use it or lose it [good rankings].
April 26th, 2008 — strategy
I’m relatively new to sales, so stopping in at trade show booths - as I did this week - and asking to speak to the marketing manager to pitch search engine optimization (SEO) services was, at first, out of my comfort zone. I am used to being the one getting pitched to, back when I was a newspaper and magazine editor.
So imagine my surprise when I found myself not only good at selling SEO services - but actually enjoying it tremendously. I find that I don’t need to say much more than, “do you know where your website shows up in search engine result pages?” Alarm bells go off, eyebrows go up: I have their full attention.
(If I have the time before a show or conference, I like to do a bit of keyword and search volume research, coupled with “practice Googling,” so I can demonstrate to prospects some specifics of where they’re falling short with SEO.)
Getting on the road to SEO
Sometimes a marketing manager will tell me, “we know about SEO; we had our website designed with that in mind.” When I (gently) inform them that their metacontent and on-page practices are short of desirable, they are listening…
Basically, you could say that SEO is easier said than done. It’s great to know what SEO means - after all, many businesses haven’t made the effort to learn SEO - but the actual execution of SEO is tricker than you may think.
If you’re just getting on the road to SEO, I make the following suggestions:
- SEO services are scaleable; you can control the number of pages you get optimized, as well as the number of keywords you use for the optimization.
- Scaleablity means that SEO can be customized to fit your budget.
- Don’t assume that your website designer and developer understand SEO well (or even at all).
- Don’t assume your competitors aren’t doing, or thinking about, SEO for their sites.
- Don’t mistake SEO for some high-tech ‘flash in the pan’: figuring out how to get found online is getting more important all the time.
- If you’re buying traffic right now, don’t drop it until you have a chance to see how generating organic traffic (define) performs for you and if they can complement each other.
- If you have an older website, you should celebrate! SEO just got a fair bit easier for you.
