Once a website is setup and working, you have to get people to look at the website.  No matter what online optimization methods and strategy you choose, the warmest and most interested prospects going to your website will be the ones you send there from your business cards and from your brochures.  Having said that, bringing traffic from the Internet to your website through a Search Engine Optimization Process can be an effective way of marketing your products and services.  More and more people everyday are turning to the Internet to find products and services, especially in affluent areas.

The first step in the Search Engine Optimization process is to identify the market or markets we are trying to reach.  Sometimes it makes sense to go after a specific segment of the market and sometimes it makes more sense to go after a more generalized segment of the market.  From this point, we need to do a considerable amount of research including keyword research and a competitive analysis.  The keyword research consists of determining how many people type in certain keywords and what derivatives of those words people are typing in.  The second aspect of this research is to determine which companies and websites are listed under these keywords.  This research is absolutely key to the success of the program because instead of assuming people search in specific ways, the research confirms it.

There are three main programs that can result in additional traffic coming to your website.  The research that needs to be done can be used to be successful with each of the following three programs.

Organic or Traditional Search Listing

When an Internet user goes to google.com and types in a keyword phrase they are presented with thousands and sometimes millions of options to choose from in the general search results listing.  This is referred to as the organic search listing.  Each search engine uses a different algorithm to rank the relevance of pages for each search term.  The main factors influencing your ranking for any given keyword phrase includes but is certainly not limited to:  the content on the page, the page title, the META tags, the domain name, and how many links are pointed to your website.  META tags are pieces of data embedded in the code of your website that the viewer of the website doesn’t see but the Search Engines can see this information and they use the keyword information found here to help determine where your website should rank for any given keyword phrase.  The tricky part is that there are certain rules for META tags including the use of spaces and commas, the use of capital letters and lower case letters, the overall length, and how derivative keyword phrases are handled.  Just when you think you have figured these rules out and your website has great placement, the search engines change the rules completely and you must start all over.  We have a dedicated certified search engine expert who reads all the research on the search engine and continually stays abreast of the algorithm changes so your site receives the best ranking.  After optimizing each of the above factors with the proper keyword phrases, hand submission of your site to the major search engines is required.  Many of the top search engines have a dependency on one another and understanding this dependency is key to achieving effective search engine optimization.  Automated responses are typically blocked by the search engines are not necessary when the site is optimized properly.  We submit your website by hand and provide a complete report on where your website was submitted.  We also provide you with a detailed listing of what other paid placements you may choose for your website.  Depending on your industry, some of these may or may not be recommended to participate in.  Once you have been indexed by the Search Engines we provide you with a benchmark report of your placement under specific keywords.

Pay Per Click Programs

With traditional search engine listing, sometimes it takes time and can be difficult to figure out the specific search engine algorithms for specific industries.  Furthermore, Search Engines may take several months to fully index your website.  With Pay Per Click placement, placement is nearly instantaneous and it can be adjusted on the fly immediately.  Pay Per Click placement consists of bidding on specific keywords and buying your way to the top of the Search Engines.  The research that is compiled determining what keywords may be good words in the organic search is also used to determine how much current bidders are bidding on these specific keywords.  It is important to be specific with these words and make sure you are attracting the “right” kind of traffic.  There are many subtleties to Pay Per Click program revolving around plural words, what you can and cannot put in your description, and how the Pay Per Click program handles derivative words.  Making mistakes in any of these areas can be very costly in the long run and result in very little interested traffic to your website.

The Pay Per Click program ranks websites based on how much they bid per click.  Because of this, the program needs to be monitored on a daily basis.  We provide extensive monitoring, research, and ongoing support to determine what changes other bidders have made and how to react to those changes.  We also need to work closely with the website owner to make sure we are seeing usage information favorable to the type of traffic we want to see at the website.  The bottom line is usually an increase in Emails, orders, or phone calls and we need to insure that the proper keyword phrases are being used and that they are generating the response we expect.  If the words are generating a favorable response, then we need to try a different strategy and not waste, time, money, and effort on the wrong strategy.  This program is not a set it and forget it type of program.  It must be monitored constantly and tweaked constantly to insure success.

Another benefit of this type of program is that you get to set your own title and description for the listing and the title and description can be different for each keyword phrase.  It is absolutely paramount that the description eliminates those who are not prospects and qualifies those that are prospects.  Examples of this include putting in the size of the company you are interested in working with ($10 Million in Revenue and Above) or the geographic area you are interested in working in (Southeast Michigan).  We work with our clients to craft careful and deliberate descriptions containing all the information necessary to attract the “right” type of traffic to their website.  We continue to work with our clients to adapt these descriptions and make changes as we see fit and as the click through and usage numbers suggest.  Throughout this program we are constantly correlating the click through numbers with the website usage information and then with the company’s order, telephone, and Email traffic to determine which combinations of words, descriptions, and placement work best.

Link Exchange

Another program that helps to increase traffic and visibility of a website is a Link Exchange Program.  Simply put, a Link Exchange program is a system in which your website links to many other complementary websites and then we work to get those websites to link back to your website.  Some experts warn of taking traffic away from your website through having too many links posted there.  Generally, we have these links open in a new browser window so the visitor doesn’t actually leave your website, but generally when they are following links away from your website they usually return if they are a customer or potential customer interested in buying from your company.  The Links page is also a page where visitors look to determine the credibility of a company.  Much like the chamber of commerce member stickers in a company’s front window, the Links page details what other companies or groups the company is affiliated with.  If the company has no alliances, they are certainly less credible than a company with a complete links page of affiliations and partner companies.

We won’t recommend linking to any site that can be a competitor to you.  We recommend trying to find complimentary websites.  For example, for a limousine service, some complimentary links may be some wedding related website, some prom related website, or some executive travel service websites.  The set of links for each company is certainly unique and requires careful scrutiny and planning.

The benefits of a Link Exchange program include getting people following the return links to your website and thus bringing in additional traffic as well as having the Search Engines recognizing that there are numerous links to your website thus ranking you higher in the organic or traditional listings as well.  We can work with you to craft a specific ongoing Link Exchange program where the benefit can carry forward for a long period of time.

Overall

The one factor that can make or break any Search Engine Optimization strategy is the monitoring of the program.  Just like with any marketing strategy, the optimization program must be monitored in terms of website usage information as well as where business, calls, and Emails are generated from.  It is vitally important to determine which links people are following to your website, which Search Engines send the most traffic to your website and which pages those visitors land on, as well as how long visitors stay on your website.  Combining all these indicators with the amount of interest through phone calls, Emails, and sales that is being generated can help suggest improvements and tweaks to the strategy to make it even more effective in the future.

Every business is different in their goals and expectations for a Search Engine Optimization program.  The first step in beginning of one these programs is to outline these goals and determine which portions of a Search Engine Optimization strategy should be implemented and how they should be implemented.  We can work with our clients to completely customize these strategies to fit any set of business goals and any budget.  The costs of these programs vary depending on the industry and depending on their complexity.

Please contact us to learn more about Search Engine Optimization Services and how they can dramatically help your business grow.