SEO
5 tips for kick-starting your SEO
Excerpts By Jim Yu
June 18, 2010
Article Highlights:
• SEO requires constant supervision and tinkering by an experienced professional
• Think of every keyword as a marketing channel; every keyword you miss is a missed opportunity
• If challenging a competitor, analyze what works for that company and build your strategy from there (and what doesn’t)
After years of causing headaches for search managers, search engine optimization (SEO) is finally poised to go primetime. With the saturation of traditional online marketing channels such as paid search, display advertising, and email, enterprises are looking for new ways to attract customers. But while social media is getting all the press, organic search -- having a presence in natural search results pages -- is where the real revenue opportunities lie.
In both B2B and B2C, companies are increasingly taking SEO seriously and making investments in their SEO operations. For most companies, now is the time to take a harder look at SEO. There is a significant first mover advantage in SEO: If you can take a position at the top of the natural search rankings, the search engines will give you higher authority, more exposure, and you become very difficult to dislodge.
While SEO best practices for websites have been around for several years, marketers are only now beginning to understand what makes a best-in-class enterprise SEO operation, one that can consistently deliver results. Here are five steps for delivering on those opportunities.
1. Dedicate resources to SEO
SEO is not a part-time activity. It is naturally competitive and requires constant attention from specialists who really understand SEO. Typically, the best performers among enterprises have one to three dedicated staffers, but some corporations have many more.
2. Build a comprehensive keyword portfolio
If your SEO activities focus on only 10 or 20 keywords, you are missing the boat. You should think of each keyword as a micro-marketing channel -- every keyword missed is a channel that you are not benefiting from.
3. Use competitive intelligence
When it comes to SEO, knowledge and experience are power. If you are the first in your market to move aggressively toward optimization, then you can be assured your competitors will follow your lead. You need to have competitive intelligence so you can respond quickly and effectively to the competition's actions. If you are challenging an incumbent that is dominating the natural search rankings, then the best strategy is to first start by analyzing what works for that entity and use that intelligence to focus your game plan of keywords, back-links, and content.
4. Take advantage of enterprise-class SEO management technologies
It's time to replace those Excel spreadsheets. Like any task in life, you need to have the right tools to do the job properly. While many businesses and brands have made significant investments in CRM, marketing automation, and PPC-analysis tools, they typically still rely on spreadsheets to support their SEO operations.
When you are managing more than 500 keywords and monitoring the search rankings of your top competitors, a spreadsheet is no longer up to the task. In fact, it's actually holding you back. You need an enterprise-class SEO platform ($$$) that delivers an integrated and comprehensive suite of management tools that can scale as you grow your keyword portfolio.
5. Make SEO an enterprise-wide priority
Finally, the most successful SEO operations are a company-wide endeavor. Organic search performance is driven by every employee who touches the web. This includes marketing managers who decide on messaging (and especially Blogging), content producers who write the copy, web developers who structure the website, and even the PR team that writes the press releases and educates the media. Each person has to understand SEO best practices and use this knowledge in everything they do. It starts with education, but you also need the right workflows and technology in place.
SEO has the potential to be a major online marketing channel, capable of making a significant contribution to lead generation and revenue. However, it needs to have the right people, systems, and organization in place if it is to consistently deliver positive ROI. It takes time and resources, but the longer you wait, the bigger the challenge.
Nettie Wakefield, Owner of eMarketMe.com suggests a free 20-minute consultation by calling her at 714-514-3196 7a to 7p PST. eMarketMe has been in the marketing and advertising business since the mid-90’s, and conducting SEO since the beginning. You can visit at http://www.eMarketMe.com
