SEO Speedway – Getting Ahead and Staying in Front of the Pack

Extracts - Search Engine Articles and Press Releases

In the world of non paid placement, organic or natural search marketing for websites is so much more than putting up a website and expecting the search engines to place your website in its rightful place; high up on the first page. It would appear many site owners perceive that once their site is launched – THAT’S IT! - the search engines are waiting in eager anticipation for it and immediately place it on the first page. (People really have such expectations.)

In explaining the search marketing landscape to clients I am often reminded of go-karting; lots of similarly equipped go-karts (information), all having the same intention of getting ahead and staying ahead of the pack. There always seems to be an initial traffic jam (waiting to be indexed), jostling (re-tweaking the site, adding new textual content and link building) and bouncing about without any clear sense of actual forward motion. This article is about running the gauntlet, getting free of the pack, and staying ahead of them.

The ideal campaign, to achieve success on the internet need to have:- practical goals, a clear focus on the site’s overall message, a realistic timetable, patience, and a call to action for each page. Often I present an overall strategy based on an ideal campaign.

Keyword Research - This is a minimum all sites should undergo to determine best fits for placement. In conversation with callers, many website owners are unable to identify their site’s primary goal and/or keyword phrase. Just because something is common sense doesn’t mean it’s common practice” – (unknown). Once a set of primary and secondary keywords have been established it is time to review existing textual content or create new text. Often times, site owners are surprised to learn that the textual content on their home page does not once mention their primary keyword phrase!

Website Design or Redesign - How old is the site, how was the site made, who wrote the site and where is it hosted? When was the last time it had a checkup or a redesign? Frequently I inspect and come across a website that has 0 backlinks pointing to the site, and 0 pages spidered and/or indexed by Google. This is problematic of course and although the client may wish to talk about website optimization I first need to recommend we take a step back; we need to determine the site architecture and to what extent the design is search engine friendly. If the site utilizes a frames design is the owner willing to consider a site redesign or come to terms with the site being compromised without a hope of attaining exceptional placements. Similarly how much of the site is in Flash? Is there a splash page? Be cautious of those low monthly all-in-one templates sites; they are challenging to optimize due to their inflexible architecture.

Usability - Many callers say their website receives a large volume of visitors but the exit rate is very high and the conversion rate is extremely low. Good questions to ask: Are you targeting your traffic (audience) properly? What is the significance for each and every page of your website? How do you want to direct your visitor? Does each page carry a message or a call to action?

Ongoing Maintenance - Each website is not static; it is like an organism – it needs to morph and respond to search engine indexing, keyword placement competitiveness or traffic conversion rate. A properly monitored website will stabilize and perhaps enhance the positioning of the website. SEOs are always working to understand the latest search engine updates and make website adjustments as necessary.

For more advice on SEO contact Courtney Web Design. Your local SEO experts.