Do you wonder why your company can’t be found top of Google for the services (or products) you offer?

Here’s a basic primer to give you an understanding and ideas.

WHAT IS SEO AND HOW DOES IT HELP YOU MAKE SALES?

The purpose of SEO (search engine optimization) is to get more highly ranked on Google (or other search engines).

For this article, we refer to all search engines as “Google”, for simplicity.

Marketing-Oriented SEO enables your company broader outreach to make more sales,  earn more money and help more people, globally.

Getting Top of Google

Top ranking (i.e., getting to the top pages of Google for your search term) is dependant on various factors. It is not helpful just to get your name top of Google. You’ll be losing sales if people outside your immediate area don’t know your company name and can’t find you when searching the services or products you offer. Look for a qualified Marketing-Oriented SEO team who can strategically incorporate into your SEO services into your website and offers:

• understanding of your business model, marketing goals, objectives, campaigns, purpose and direction for your company over the next few years,
• competitive analysis as part of keyword definition and site improvements,
• extensive research, evaluation, testing & definition of keyword phrases,
• how social media affects your website,
• correct use of content, media, faster download times and strategic navigation benefits,
• correct SEO-oriented programming to attract search engine spiders,
• correct use of link building,
• recommended strategies to continue building and holding your ranking,
• directory listings so your site will be found,
• and a host of key technical elements built into the back end of your website which are  required for your site to be found and ranked.

 

If you are promised #1 Google ranking by an SEO firm, watch out. Unless they own Google, they cannot promise that.

Instead, a top SEO service is built upon experience getting results on various search engines, and knowing what is harming a website. That way, the Marketing-oriented SEO team knows the exact items to fix on your website to give you a greater likelihood of building your clientele and ranking in the search engines.

How to Find The Right Team

Ask them if they have marketing experience bringing companies results?

We have.

Ask them if they’ve got companies #1 on Google already.

We have.

That’s what we strive for. But can we promise top ranking? Nope, we don’t own Google. No ethical SEO company can promise that.

Buyer Beware

Watch out for “website design” or “hosting” companies who believe they know SEO. They generally only understand a small percentage of SEO tactics which our firm often is asked to correct later – at additional cost to site owners.

For example, sites that tell a story only with images cannot be “seen” by Google unless programmed and handled with special techniques. Web hosts only “house” your website, not fix the site content or programming itself to enable your site to be found.

Be sure to get advising from qualified SEO teams before paying a designer for SEO!

 

98% of Websites Use the Wrong Keywords

Virtually every company we’ve ever spoken with about SEO is defining their keywords incorrectly, which is a primary reason their SEO efforts aren’t working.

 

Keywords are not descriptors of your service/product like in olden days.

For example, a marketing service agency, like ours,  used to be able to use “keywords” in the 90’s like this:

• “Allison,
• Allison Bliss,
• marketing, communications,
• social media services,
• copywriting,
• SEO,
• graphic design,
• publicity,
• strategic marketing plans,” etc.

But those are “descriptors” and if you use those in this century you’re just guessingat your keywords. That’s a great way to kill your SEO!

When you guess at keywords, you’ll discover there are 63,400,000+ results for “marketing services” (or your own search term) so your chances of being found top of Google for that term would be quite slim unless you had millions in your budget to pay for:

• staff handling vast internet outreach & advertising,
• publicity agencies,
• magazine ads,
• massive large global events,
• daily blogging and social media teams generating vast content, to become a household word (like “Kleenex” is a household word).

I like this article by Adam Heitzman  on Google’s newer “Panda” algorithms.

How We Solve This
Our SEO team uses proprietary software, research, and testing to evaluate & define the best keywords or keyword phrases customized for each company to maximize their ‘find-ability’ in Google.

The goal is to determine the exact crosshairs for this criteria which gives you the best keyword phrases for your unique business:

• what the leading searches are for in your category,
• what the competition is for those keyword terms,
• which terms have large searches but are most likely to get you more highly ranked or found on Google (and elsewhere) by those seeking your unique assets,
• what terms fit your market “positioning” or “branding” or how you set your company apart from others

We use proprietary software and methods for testing  keyword phrases  over a period of time to ensure you’re getting the phrases most likely to climb in the ranking.

Maximize Value

Because we deliver Marketing-Oriented SEO, we can also provide you instructions on items you can do yourself to build ranking on Google (like adding some specific content or links) so you don’t need to pay thousands of dollars to SEO firms to do this for you.

 

What is Google+

This is Google’s version of social media, like “Facebook”, and has some very useful features. Because search engines change methods frequently, it’s imperative you choose an SEO company who monitors new developments that can boost (or harm) your SEO. For example, getting aboard Google+ will likely help build links to your site, once its officially launched and tested.  This will help your SEO. Here’s a helpful post with instructions on easy signup for Google+

Once on Top, Stay on Top

After you’ve successfully gained ranking to the top page of Google (or other search engines), it’s critical to monitor your ranking. 

Why? 

Because as other competitor’s sites climb the ranking, yours will begin to slip lower. If you notice your business falling off this may be the reason. 

What can you do? 

Best idea is to work with your SEO service to set up a monthly maintenance contract to ensure your site is being tweaked to maintain your ranking. There are a few things that you can often do yourself, like adding content or social media activity (if it’s done properly!). These activities should be offered to you by your SEO firm. No time? Have the firm handle it!

 

Ready for Help?

We’re standing by to answer your questions. We need to evaluate your website first to ensure it’s accessible for our programmers to fix it – or to work with your designer or  IT programmers to supervise programming changes.

Costs & Details of our marketing-oriented SEO services.

Send us an email with your website and we’ll let you know if we can help. Or call us: 510-879-7600.

Need More Sales?

If you need your site to generate more sales or just need internet strategies to make your site serve the needs of your staff/company, take a look at our Internet Marketing Web Consultation service to learn some radical improvements you might be able to make yourself

Full Website & Blog Services

If you need a site redesign, we have designers, programmers and we also create or redesign websites and blogs with marketing strategy focus.