SEO for Beginners
Tuesday, September 18th, 20071. Define what you are looking for from your SEO/PPC strategy.
Decide whether you are looking for high traffic to a site, or specific visitors. This is crucial for identifying which your client would benefit most from in order to help them achieve their ultimate objective. When targeting more specific visitors, you will generally receive a much lower level of traffic to a site, but the traffic you do receive will be more likely to be interested in a product or service being offered; elevating the potential that a sale will result. In addition, identifying your ultimate goal will inform all of your SEO/PPC decisions. Moreover, decide how much you are willing to pay. You may choose to change this amount once the campaign begins to generate some statistics and you can make an informed decision based on experience.
2. Not all search engines are created equal.
This means that the largest search engines are not necessarily the most useful for your specific campaigns. Make sure to research each search engine as they often have a niche market/service/geographic location that they specialize in. And, search engines offer different support for their clients. Research them and find the ones that suit your objectives best. Get to know their special features/offerings such as AdSense, Cost-Per-click additions to other similar sites, turn off/turn on options and geo-targeting. And if possible, get to know a representative from the search engine you find most useful.
3. It is important to know what is working.
Knowing what is working will save you precious time when deciding on keywords and services and will help you avoid mistakes. There are 3 initiatives that will make it easier to decipher what is working:
a) Look at the keywords your competitors are using and the placement on search engines that they are targeting.
b) Research keywords and SEO strategies online. -search engines can offer you a wealth of information
-check with websites devoted to SEO such as BidRank, Media Tracker and AdSense
c) It is critical that you monitor and measure the outcome of your SEO and PPC campaigns. This is the most important step in your campaign as it will enable you to make any necessary adjustments to ensure that you are reaching your targeted audience and objectives. |
** Measure conversion – what leads came from which search engine
** Which keywords generated the most interest compare what you paid for a service against what you wanted to pay and if there is a marked difference decide whether the added expense was worth the outcome.
4. Choose your words wisely.
We recommend you consult WordTracker online to help determine which words are being searched for. However, keep in mind the following things:
>> The most popular keywords are not always the most suitable – if sales are what your client wants it is better to be use more specific words consult search engines and ask them for advice.
>> Research/use negative keywords
>> Check the keywords that come to you most naturally when you think of your business and search for them to see if your competitor is using them – these words must be working if your competitor is using them
>>remember the lessons of item #2.try and find out what keyword or search terms are popular now, and if possible, the trends forecasted for the near future
understand the rules search engines follow (e.g. what “ ” means)
5. Tips
> Search engines can change daily
> It is absolutely crucial to determine and understand your objectives, different client needs/campaigns and to also measure results
> Timing is important, you need to bid up and down depending on the time and date to reap the greatest rewards – figuring out a pattern will help make this easier and more time effective
> Find out what the best position is for each specific client of yours i.e. #1 might not be ideal, but #4 may be perfect
> You can buy software to help you bid e.g. BidRank
> Search engines have features to help you develop and manage your campaigns
6. There are no templates to follow.
Every client is different and so every campaign will be different too. With experience you will develop patterns to follow and become more skilled at developing and managing campaigns. Until then, it is important to learn all you can about SEO and PPC to better equip yourself with the tools you need to manage successful campaigns.
7. Conversion is one of the most important tools for appraising and developing your SEO and PPC campaigns.
We recommend this tool is used for all campaigns.
set goals that define what you are trying to measure
compare the amount of money invested with the ROI
become knowledgeable about this tool so you can educate your clients on its advantages and offer conversion to them
remember to always analyze whether you got what you wanted from your SEO and PPC campaign
profile your leads
don’t be afraid to continually make adjustments to your campaigns or even the website (e.g. enforce fields to track information from visitors)
