Archive for the ‘SEO’ Category

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I’m a big fan of keyword research but I also know that the data provided from any keyword research tool has its limitations. For the most part, these tools can only provide you information on what is being searched. What they can’t do is tell you which searches were relevant, which results were quickly discarded in favor of a different or more refined search, or which searches actually provided the visitor with exactly what they were looking for.

I’m not a big searcher, but I find that when I do I start with the basic concept of what I’m looking for. I’ll take a few seconds to scan through the results, and then I’ll go back and perform a more specific search. This pattern could happen two, maybe three times, until I feel that I’ve gotten the information I need.

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A few years ago the concept of running a website in conjunction with your “brick and mortar” store was seen as just another avenue to generate a handful more sales each year. Today, websites generate a significant portion of sales for many businesses, and there are plenty of web-only businesses that don’t make their money any other way.

Every day, millions of people go to the web for research, shopping, news, entertainment and more. Offline stores are heavily promoting their websites to their consumers in the isles and at the checkout stand as a means of building brand loyalty as well as shopping convenience. Marketing your website online can literally add thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars into your business bank account.

As consumers go to the web daily for any number of reasons, planning the online marketing strategy of your website can help you tap into each of those avenues as a way to generate new traffic, more conversions, and a loyal customer base. Ignoring the potential of the web will only serve to give your competitors a substantial advantage in reaching your target market. Not investing appropriate time, money, or resources into the online marketing of your website is akin to handing your customers over directly to your competitors.

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It wasn’t all that long ago that people in my industry had to convince business owners of the value of going online. For the most part those days are past. I think the value of the web has proven itself more than we can possible realize. Today I can pay bills, stream movies, schedule and even watch my DVR from anywhere in the world, so long as I have internet access. Getting your business online isn’t just about making money–it’s about accessibility.

Even if your business as little commercial viability online, having an accessible website allows people to learn more about you, your products or services, what types of things you do, what you believe in and care about, and how to contact you if needed. It’s about allowing people to come to you instead of pushing yourself on to them that is typical of most forms of advertising.

If you run a business of any size and you still have not made the jump to the Web, why not? If you know your business can make money online, (i.e. you sell an in-demand product or service) then investing money to build your web presence is almost a no-brainer. The question then becomes, how to do it right so you can be profitable.

If you run one of those niche businesses where online success isn’t a certainty, there is still value in being online. There is also value in investing in a bit of marketing in order to make sure your site can be found by those looking to find you, even if they just seek information.

Regardless if your business that can make a profit online or if the site’s just another way to provide information to the public, there are a few things that you’ll want to consider when budgeting for your website’s success.

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Every now and then I look at a site and wonder if the owner is even trying to make money. Well, I guess I know they are because they do all the “right” things to make money, but they are doing all the wrong things to serve their customer’s needs.

Building a great website is a lot of work, but the job is never really done. There is always something you can do to improve performance, create a better customer experience, or generate a genuine desire for customers to return. And there are also things that shoo customers away, elicit a poor customer experience, and interfere with site performance. Here are just a few:

Too Many Ads

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I recently received an email from someone looking for some advice and a variety of topics. I thought our readers here would benefit from my response. This is the first post of a series of questions and answers touching on keywords, links, architecture and more.

We’ll start off with the questions and thoughts regarding keywords and how they should be used on the page vs. how the search engines interpret them. For many outside the SEO industry keyword usage can still be somewhat of a mystery. Hopefully this information will provide some new insights or reconfirm old suspicions.

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Questions I need answered if I in-source my search marketing

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So far in this series we have asked questions related to in-sourcing search marketing efforts for anyone considering doing SEO themselves, subbing out SEO to another person, orhiring an in-house SEO with and without SEO experience. Then we answered questions for those looking to outsource their SEO campaign completely by hiring an SEO consultant or hiring an full-fledged SEO firm. In the last installment we discussed issues of cost and value of the SEO campaign and what kind of expectations one should have.

In this final installment our questions will be centered on control and expected involvement of the business owner. The site owner, to some degree, will likely have to give up some control of their site if they want the SEO firm to implement anything themselves. At the same time, there is a reasonable expectation that the SEO cannot have 100% control over the site in order to ensure the client approves of the specific changes that the SEO is asking to be made. Somewhere in here is a balancing act from the business owner having to do everything themselves and handing over all decisions to the SEO completely.

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In the first six parts of this series we asked questions related to in-sourcing your search marketing efforts. Specific areas addressed were for those considering doing SEO themselves, subbing out SEO to another person, and hiring an in-house SEO with and without SEO experience. In Part V we addressed issues of outsourcing your SEO campaign completely, asking questions regarding related to hiring an SEO consultant vs. hiring an full-fledged SEO firm.

In this installment we move into the realm of pricing and asking questions related to costs versus return on investment. When outsourcing your SEO to a firm or consultant it becomes a bit more difficult to control costs than it does when you hire-in house. But that’s not to suggest that cost cannot be controlled and you cannot get a return on investment. It’s all a matter of knowing how to manage the campaign, expectations and the budget that goes along with it.

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So far in this series of questions we’ve discussed in-sourcing your search marketing efforts, answering questions related to doing SEO yourself, Subbing out SEO, hiring an in-house SEO with and without SEO experience. In Part V we started moving into the realm of outsourcing your SEO campaign completely, asking questions regarding of hiring an SEO consultant and what that may mean to your marketing campaign efforts.

Today we’ll look at the questions pertaining to hiring a multi-person SEO/M firm to manage your campaign. By asking and answering these questions you’ll better understand the differences between a consultant and a firm and give you the ammunition you need to decide which, if any, is the better route for you to take.

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We spent the first half of this series addressing questions of in-sourcing your search marketing efforts. We answered questions related to doing all the SEO yourself, Subbing out some of your SEO to a third party, hiring an in-house SEO with experience, or training someone to manage you SEO in-house. By running through this list and answering these questions for yourself you’ll be able to make an informed decision on whether or not doing SEO in-house is the right course of action for you.

But before you go and and decide to do your SEO in-house, lets look at questions related to outsourcing your SEO campaigns. Being able to weigh the pros and cons of both paths will ensure you are seeing the bigger picture and understand the potential consequences before moving forward in either one direction or the other.

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