SEO = Inbound marketing
I started using the term “inbound marketing” to replace SEO because I think it’s more apt in describing what’s involved with optimizing your site. Search optimization is really an extension of marketing, and should be tied closely with marketing efforts. After all, the goal is to deliver more visitors to your site, who will hopefully become customers. Search engine optimization is a limiting term, while inbound marketing more accurately reflects the idea of bringing visitors to your site from a variety of sources.
Start with careful research
Any search marketing project should begin with solid research. I begin by learning about the company, what they’re goals are, and looking at what they have done towards optimizing their site. I take a look at their analytics data to see what sort of organic search traffic they’re getting, and where they’re ranking for high-volume keywords.
Once I understand what the company’s goals are, I begin researching keywords, and looking at the competition sites to see what they have been doing. By learning what others in your market have done to succeed – where they’re getting links, promoting themselves, and the sort of neighborhood of websites they’re associated with – we can formulate a plan of attack.
On-site examination
The next step is to look at your site to see how well it uses the target keywords, and identify holes in the basic structure. By optimizing the code, copy, and internal link structure, you can see a great improvement in rankings.
Linkbuilding
This is perhaps the most important aspects of SEO. Getting sites to link to yours is the singe biggest indicator of popularity and authority. I look for high-authority sites to gain backlinks from, and build them in a variety of ways. I always try to create a diverse link profile for any website, and don’t rely on low brow techniques like blog comment spamming or forum profile creation. While these types of links may help in the short term, they’ll do more damage in the long run.
Content creation
With a degree in English, I’m a very capable writer. A large part of SEO centers around creating and distributing content about your product or website. I do a lot of copywriting, and also outsource these tasks as needed. Depending on what sort of market you’re in, I’ll find related sites where we can publish content, and build relationships with other site and blog owners so we can increase awareness and gain valuable backlinks at the same time.
Social media
Social media plays an important role in your SEO success. However, you can’t simply set up a Facebook or Twitter account and expect it to magically start working for you. It takes a creative approach, and effort to build your following. Once you do have a presence on social networking sites, they can become the most valuable source for targeted marketing and generating leads.
Search marketing – PPC and Adwords
A successful PPC campaign isn’t always easy to set up, and it’s far too easy for site owners to sign up for Adwords and quickly drain their bank account with expensive clicks. It’s crucial to start small, and track everything. I can help you set up a successful PPC campaign without breaking the bank.
Use the right tools for the job
I have an assortment of software programs that help get my job done, and streamline otherwise tedious processes. I use Market Samurai for research, Google Trends and Insights, and Raven Tools as part of my daily arsenal.
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