chrisarnell.com - Search Engine Optimization Strategist (SEOS) » Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Christopher Arnell — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:17:44 +0000

Creating a visually pleasing web site is nice. Creating a content-rich web site is better. This is where Search Engine Optimization comes into play. It is not enough to have a great site and hope that people will find it. This philosophy may have been acceptable in 1996 but with the amount of information available, products being sold, and services being offered on the World Wide Web, it is crucial that your web site have the proper exposure on Google and Yahoo. This means formulating a marketing strategy for success on the Internet. This can be achieved with a combination of strategies that are listed below.

Analyze the current web site and determine what needs to be added or modified.
Determine what keywords and phrases people search for that relate to your company and that would lead them to your web site.
Analyze your top 10 competitor’s web sites and use that information to improve your web marketing strategy.
Make adjustments based on analytical information provided by the initial analysis as well as using specific, traffic generating keywords from your competitor’s analysis.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Christopher Arnell — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:15:31 +0000

Pay Per Click (PPC) is paid advertising on Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines. The way it works is simple. Advertisers bid on keywords or phrases. Depending on what the advertiser is willing to spend, their web site receives targeted placement on the search engine. The higher the bid, the better the placement. When a potential customer searches on Google for a product or service that your company offers, PPC advertisements are at the top or right side of the browser window. This type of advertising is often clicked on first due to its preferential placement over unpaid search engine results. Depending on the keyword, the cost could be from one cent per click or sometimes as much as a few dollars. The picture below has been color coded to show where the organic results (unpaid search results) and the paid advertising (Pay Per Click) are located. The green shading shows the organic search results and the red shows the Pay Per Click(PPC) results.

Depending upon how much your company has to budget for PPC per month, high ranking on Google can be almost instantaneous. The Pay Per Click system works allows companies to bid on the amount of money they are willing to spend per click. The higher your bid, the higher your web site is placed when searching for a particular keyword or phrase.

Analytics

Christopher Arnell — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:57:21 +0000

The simplest definition of Analytics is “the science of analysis”. Wikipedia

Analyzing the data from your web site will allow us to adjust and modify, in real time, your web site which will increase its visibility on search engines like Google and Yahoo. Observing where customers go and how long they stay on a particular page can help market your web site more effectively. Finding out what works and what doesn’t work will ultimately lead to a higher search engine ranking as well as more exposure thus leading to more leads and increased sales.

Monitoring how a potential customer arrives at your site will allow us to determine what marketing campaign, targeted keywords, search phrases are effective. There is no more wasting time and money hoping customers will come to your site because of particular keywords or Pay Per Click (PPC) ad campaigns. All information is reviewed daily, weekly, and monthly and changes are made to you campaign accordingly.