There you are, finally ready to launch your
online business. You went through weeks of planning with a web designer and got
everything worked out and tested.
Then, finally, your website goes live. And
you wait. And wait.
Where are the customers? Where's the
traffic? That's when you'll hear the word SEO for the first time. It's a word
you should make your new best friend!
Search Engine Optimization is what can put
your site at the top of search page rankings. But how can you get those high
rankings? Fortunately, there are many wonderful resources available online to
help you beef up your SEO. The goal is to choose the right SEO services and
make sure that you get the value for your marketing money.
Here's what a good SEO company should be
providing:
Knowledge and tools to research strong
keywords.
Everything starts with the keywords. This is what the typical customer will use
to type into the search engines. Finding the right combination of keywords is,
well, key. Keywords or phrases should be based on your understanding of your
customers’ buying cycle. A comprehensive keyword search includes keyword
popularity, competitive research and product-related searches. There are some
keywords that appear to rank high but might make no sense in terms of being
added to content. Your SEO expert needs to decipher the difference.
Ability to create engaging copy. Once you've got the keywords
locked down you then have to fold them into your content. This is what will be
picked up by the search engines. Working them into headlines is easy but it's
the copy that really matters. Search engines are becoming extremely
sophisticated - they can sniff out "spam copy" and penalize you for
it. Don't depend on an IT guy crunching algorithms or a web designer to be able
to entice your customers with the written word.
As you look for an SEO expert don't hesitate to shop around to find one that best suits your needs. Obviously, you should start with the ones that have the highest rankings themselves. You know they're doing something right.