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Five Keys to a Successful SEO Strategy
The keys to a successful SEO strategy are not unlike those used in ANY successful business plan. It’s about following the same best practices one would implement for any marketing tactic or operational activity. After several hundred SEO engagements, our experience has taught us that the keys to successful SEO strategy are the following: - Buy In
- Identifying Objectives
- Keyword Analysis
- Evaluation
- Re-optimization
Buy In
Avoid the following pitfalls:
- relegating SEO tasks to non-marketers
- reluctance to make edits to content
- unwillingness to commit internal resources
- lack of ongoing engagement after initial SEO implementation
Obviously the fact that you're even reading this page indicates that your level of interest in search engine optimization is fairly high. Don’t let your SEO efforts get sabotaged unconsciously or consciously. Make sure there is buy in from all of your key stakeholders from top to bottom.
Objectives
Clearly defined business objectives established at the beginning of your SEO engagement are what keep people accountable and focused. Depending upon your website revenue models, be it a shopping cart or lead generation site, you have some inherent objectives:
- increased search engine visibility
- more targeted traffic to your website
- increased qualified leads
- increased sales (online and offline)
- brand awareness
Keyword Analysis
One of the foundational elements of a successful SEO effort is in the selection of the "right" search phrases (i.e. keywords) to pursue. The words you use to discuss your business within your office every day may not be the same words a prospect is using to seek you out. eMagine helps to identify the difference. A thorough keyword analysis should incorporate the following resources:
- Key stakeholders – think brainstorming
- Your customers – think interviews
- Website log files – think hosting company – are your referrers turned on?
- Free and subscription based keyword generation tools – Google & Yahoo
- Your competitor’s websites – think right underneath your nose
By not taking the time to identify quality keyphrases in the beginning of the process you run the risk of driving the wrong types of visitors to your website.
Evaluation
A prevalent theme in the world of search engine optimization is the "set it and forget it" mentality. Often we hear, “We’ve optimized our website, we’re all set”. We’re glad you’ve at least optimized your website ... but how do you know you’re all set?
There are several ways to identify the success of your SEO efforts and they include: - Shopping cart orders
- Leads
- Unique visitors
- Page views per visit
- Time on site
- Bounce rates
Evaluate all the important metrics that are relevant to your revenue model on an ongoing basis. After you’ve identified which keyphrases are working, then focus or fine tune your optimization to further optimize your revenue stream.
Re-optimization
SEO is not an event. It's a process. The re-optimization process is no different from re-optimizing all of your other marketing efforts. Actually, it’s easier; because SEO is inherently measurable; so determining what's working and what's not can be fairly straightforward.
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