When embarking on a search engine optimisation campaign (or SEO as its referred to) the foundation stone of the success is selection of good keywords.
So what makes a good keyword. Obviously it will be something relevant to your products or services supplies, but wait. There is more to it. Do you know that internet users are split into 3 sectors when they are using the internet to source products or services?
The type of users that you need to target in order to maximise your return on investment are those who are ready to buy. Ready to buy consumers will be quite specific with their search terms. They know what they want at this stage. Many SEO consultants will advise you of the words to use. Beware.
Some keywords are very easy to get to page one of google. There may not be so much competition as another keyword. This is why sometimes SEO firms will dictate the keywords. They wil tell you the easiest words to optimise.
My advise is to always find a company that has open book policy about keyword data. They ought to be able to show you number of searches and number of results which is available in the public domain. Though it is not that simple or quick to compile a report without specialist and typically expensive software. SEO companies will usually have this software as part of their kit.
Once you have selected your SEO keywords its important that the website is geared up internally. This means that amendments may need to be made to the internal framework and code. Keyword density may also need tweaking within the text, but importantly the text must not lose its power of communication, or lose its message.
If you cannot access various aspects of your website then neither can your SEO consultant. If you website is templated then certain HTML code may not be accessible. This may lead to the results taking longer to achieve.
Once the internal work is completed on the website, and I would advise this takes a week to two weeks depending on your webmaster, then we move into external aspects.
There are literally dozens of tools and methods that can be applied to market your website. Always check with your web marketing SEO firm that they use white hat techniques. Some firms use back hat methods which include cloaking and using farms.
When selecting a web marketing firm always ask for testimonials and case studies. Any reputable company will have this information readily available, and usualy displayed on their website. You can always ask if they mind you contacting one of their customers. SEO can be an expensive business to begin with and its imperative to choose a good firm.
Its worthwhile asking abiut staff experience and qualifications who will be undertaking the web marketing project. Are they graduates? Have they studied IT? Have they worked as computer programmers?
All these types of questions should uncover the levels of expertise of the web marketing technicians and the SEO company as a whole.
Finally you may be reading this thinking well I can simply do my own Adwords. Yes of course you can. However in my experience search engine marketing such as adwords can cost between 3 and 5 times more that search engine optimisation.
For some advertisers search engine marketing, ie adwords etc, is the best option, for instance if you have a brand new website and want immediate results. If you decide to opt for adwords again get specialist advise as there are very small tweaks that I can make on a campiagn that can cut the bill by a fair amount.
Whichever option you choose, remember that the best looking websites are not the best performing ones.
SEO SEM and web design by http://www.calderwebmarketing.co.uk/
Tags: business, advertising, seo, web design, sem, search engine optimisation, websites