SEO Tactics That Work
November 27, 2010
Marketing Sherpa just released this chart on the marketing effectiveness a various SEO efforts. Although their reports are written for B2B, we can use the same information for Business to Consumer (B2C).
Although keyword research is the foundation for all SEO, and should be at the top of the effectiveness portion of the chart, the effort expended is on the low side:
It’s surprising that respondents did not indicate that keyword research required a high level of effort. In order to conduct effective keyword research that will drive results of SEO campaigns, a considerable amount of effort in research is required. This may be an indication of organizations executing incomplete keyword research.
Keyword Research – The Foundation
It’s very easy to conduct a quick review of keywords via Google’s keyword tool. However, that keyword tool was recently changed and doesn’t give results that are as trustworthy as they may have been in the past. Additionally, just because a keyword gets a lot of searches does not mean it will convert well or at all for your product or service offering.
My favorite tool for keyword research is Market Samurai, which includes competition analysis and monetization among many other valuable tools. You can get a free copy (does not include all modules) by clicking on the link.
Blogging for Fresh Content
I found it interesting that businesses perceive blogging as being very high in effort but low in effectiveness, yet developing new content is perceived as highly effective. Including a blog on a site means adding new content on a regular basis (hello). It’s content that gets crawled regularly, and can rank on it’s own merits.
Businesses are missing out on a huge source of ongoing, targeted, fresh content opportunities if they don’t include a blog or utilize their existing blog effectively.
Inbound Link Building
Ongoing link building is perceived as a high effort, highly effective tactic. Although some smaller, local businesses can get by with fewer links, those with a lot of competition must keep inbound link building work going all the time in order to get and maintain their rankings. My company has a department dedicated to inbound link building for our clients.
The link building work we perform is predicated on keyword research – aha – and now we’re back to the value of spending more time on keyword research to improve SEO!
5 Steps to Get Your Site Found on Google
November 27, 2010
Google just changed the face of their search results with a huge innovation, blending local with organic results. My last blog post was about how you’re missing out if you haven’t updated your business on Google Places, and now it means even more than ever!
First I’m going to show you how Google has changed. Then I’m going to tell you exactly how to get your own site ranking, and quite possibly showing up on the first page of Google search results more than once.
The Google 3 Pack, 7 Pack and 10 Pack have mostly disappeared. Now when you look up a search term with a local designation, you get a page that looks like this:
The organic listings are the first three below the ads. Note the little plus sign and “Show more results from…” below the second organic listing. When you click on the plus sign you get a list of that site’s indexed pages that Google thinks fit the search parameters, with the option of going even deeper:
Following the organic results are the top three Places results, and when you click on the Place page link you are taken to that site’s page:
Below the organic results for businesses that rank in the top three Places results are the more generic local directory results, icluding Merchant Circle, Magic Yellow, and Yahoo Local. 
So what does all of this mean for you? If you own a local business, you have more opportunities than ever to get your site found on the first page of Google.
5 Magic Steps to Google Ranking
- Your first step is to ensure that your site has the best search engine optimization possible, for both visitors and search engines.
- Get yourself over to Google Places, click on Put your business on Google Maps, and spend time making your Places page complete and informative.
- Ask customers to write testimonials and reviews on Google, Yelp, Insider Pages, Merchants Circle, and other local directories.
- Add quality content to your site. Informational pages and/or a blog will work.
- Build inbound links to your site from other sites. The best way to start the process is through article marketing.
Okay, so these aren’t really magic – they take hard work, dedication, and money if you don’t have the time or knowledge to do it yourself.
You have a few options – you can scour the Internet for information on SEO and implement it on your site, you can join the SEO Power Team’s 3 month course ($97 a month) and get professional tutorials on how to do it yourself (written by yours truly), or you can call an SEO Consultant and have it done for you.
What you must NOT do is ignore or put off marketing your website any longer.
Tags: Google, search engine optimization, SEO, seo consultant
