Process,
Links and Resources
As
part of your Internet Marketing Strategy our professional Search Engine
Marketing packages offer a proactive service. The packages are designed
for companies who wish to successfully market their business with
the major search engines in the U.K. and globally.
The aim
of this section of the website is to introduce you to some of the steps
and procedures we undertake in creating an Internet marketing strategy
for your business. This reveals what has to be done to move your business
into the top rankings of search engine results.
Internet Marketing Strategy:
Consultation
Search
Engine Marketing, particularly for solely online trading business
is essential to the success of the business; however, many businesses
recognise that Search Engine Marketing sits alongside traditional
marketing. We discuss with you your aims as a business and the most
cost effective and productive means to achieve your aims utilising
the internet. In some instances the internet visibility forms one
part of the marketing of the business as we have seen with some of
our international clients. We recognise how important your internet
marketing strategy can be to your company and work towards complementing
your business ethics and aims. Part of the consultation process is
working together to analyse and determine the keywords pertinent and
relevant to making your business successful with the search engine
marketing, (see keywords). Our
business is your business and it is in our interest to make and help
you be successful with your internet marketing.
Competitor
Analysis
We carry
out business and market analysis on a number of levels, one of these
being your potential competitors. We produce detailed reports on competitor
listings by keyword and how their sites are ranked in the major search
engines. Part of the process in maintaining your web site positions
is that we analyse other web sites that are ranked well using the
same keywords. Further, greater in depth analysis is then carried
out that allows a more detailed indication of how we can more positively
and effectively promote your site successfully, (see
Monthly Maintenance and Reporting).
Keywords
Choosing
the best keywords is vital. In our consultation together we use your
industry knowledge in association with our own software tools and
techniques that indicates exactly the volume and words and phrases
that are being searched on in the major engines. We arrive at a detailed
breakdown of a keyword portfolio that is relevant to attracting the
right visitors to your web site. In our experience the more competitive
the keyword the longer it may take to achieve success; a spread of
keywords will give you greater concentration and success. You may
already have an existing web site, are looking to develop your existing
one or it may be a brand new site. A website's relevancy and therefore
its search engine ranking is based on the keywords and keyword phrases
that appear on your pages and throughout the site. In short, they
describe the core topics of that particular page. We will identify
the search keywords and phrases that your target audience will typically
use to find your website.
Having identified the appropriate search terms we will then produce
a report that identifies where you are listed in each search engine.
(The
next stage involves optimising your site to help us achieve the desired
visibility.)
Satellite
Sites
We prefer
to work on and optimise the content of your web site, web design can
be critical when optimising your website for the search engines. Many
people consider the look and feel of their site as number one priority.
Design is important, we feel that a well designed site deserves to
be seen and used. However we do recognise that certain companies do
not wish to change the design and style of their web site and so we
employ other optimisation methods to give high rankings for your company
web site.
We craft
satellite sites which meet the search engine guideline for conformity
and relevance; these contain high relevance of content and are developed
to rank highly for a specific keyword or phrase. We only create pages
that have relevant text and keywords and phrases to our clients that
optimise and are search engine friendly ensuring that the person looking
for your product or service finds what he or she is looking for.
Optimisation
Optimising
and creating search engine friendly web pages goes far beyond tweaking
the keyword meta tags, it’s a delicate balancing act combining
a number of relevant aspects including most importantly CONTENT. Well
written content will help any website rank highly in the search engines,
meta tags, links, Headings etc. are used to expose relevant content
and aid search engines in ranking your web pages. Search engines have
different methods of ranking websites these methods or algorithms
determine relevancy and can often change day to day. For a more in
depth look at factors that influence ranking see below.
While the search engines do their best to ensure the end user receives
relevant search results every search engine has its own algorithm
criteria that ranks your pages accordingly; these algorithms can change
from month to month (Google's order of results are automatically determined
by more than 100 factors).
Whether
we employ direct optimisation to your web site or craft satellite
sites the following are some of the areas of web design that are taken
into account.
Meta
Tags - Description and keyword Meta tags contain information
that is viewed by most search engines and they should appear immediately
below the Title tag and at the top of the html page source code. These
tags may be used to help search engines determine relevance; other
tags can be used to control what content is searched, such as the
"robots" tag and the "index" tag. Keyword meta
tags are not used as much now but are still just as important.
Title
Tag - Title Tags are very important, search engines
use them to help rank a page but most importantly the title is displayed
on the search engine results page, so a relevant title is key as well
as the description meta tag.
Robots.txt
- A robots.txt file is a standard document that can tell Search
Engines not to download some or all information from your web server.
This document is great if you do not want certain areas of your website
indexed.
Headings
- In any document written, the structure and layout can be vital
in keeping the end users interest level to a maximum, the beauty of
the web is that you can find information fast. When you add headings
and sub-headings it only helps the end user find what he or she is
looking for. Search engines do also add value on well placed headings
on relevant keywords and phrases.
Body
text - Optimized content is the keystone to successful
search engine optimization, and is one of the main areas to concentrate
on. Relevant content is copy or other material that accurately reflects
the keywords and phrases used in the page title and description.
Optimized content is the positioning of keywords and phrases within
the copy or other material to ensure the best keyword placement and
density.
Key
links - (inbound and outbound) Links can have a major
influence on ranking in many major search engines, we take care in
the linking process (see Reciprocal
Links) as spurious linking (to domain farms etc;) has been used
by some companies to manipulate ranking methods, and some search engines
have taken drastic action to counter this.
For now, our advice would be to take care how you interlink between
related sites, don't link to what could be construed as link farms,
make sure you link to sites that are related to your content.
Use of frames - Framed pages can pose optimisation
problems. Allthough quite a few engines are dealing with frames better
now the content still may not get properly indexed, the individual
frame may appear outside the frameset or it may be impossible to save
or bookmark the page.
Hosting and domain name registration –
Search Engines do not rank websites as well if they are hosted on
free hosting facilities. The sites will be crawled and indexed but
not ranked particularly high especially using competitive keywords
and phrases. Some search facilities do take into account key words
and phrases relevant to the business within the website address, this
is not an important factor, but once again in a competitive arena
this may prove to be a key element.
(What
are necessarily the right criteria for one search engine for you to
achieve high rankings does not mean it will be the same for another.
Further to this the search engine's ranking criteria is in constant
change, what was useful and proper for optimising for high rankings
6 months ago is not necessarily the same now, it is in constant flux
and change.)
Reciprocal
Links - Link Building Program
Link
popularity has become more a part of the criteria now in good search
engine ranking; this makes it an essential part of our Website optimisation
programme. Many search engines are increasingly using this as part
of the positioning process. The number and quality of inbound links
is becoming as important as the optimisation of page content.
The number
of inbound links to a website is used by search engines to determine
your importance as a site. Sites with more inbound links as a general
rule of thumb are considered more important and will generally rank
more highly for their terms.
In reciprocal link building, we deploy your own personalised link
back programme, structuring links that will positively influence your
search engine ranking and identify and approach suitable partners
to encourage them to link to you.
This
allows you to maximise your linking strategy, which is an integral
part of your search engine optimisation campaign.
Search
Engine Submission
In order
to make your website seen you will need to register it with the search
engines. We recommend paying to have a site submitted as it guarantees
rapid inclusion. (All our packages include the costs associated with
rapid inclusion) But remember these payments specify rapid inclusion
- not high rankings. Websites and the individual pages still need
to be optimised. All submitted pages are monitored and if for any
reason they are not tracked by the search engines then they are re-optimised
and where necessary resubmitted.
Pay Per Click Campaign Management
Pay-Per-Click
(PPC) facility programmes work on attracting traffic to your web site
by your chosen keywords and then you pay an agreed amount (bid amount)
on a cost per click basis each time somebody clicks through and visits
your web site. PPC programmes offered by the major search engines
provide an excellent way of rapidly securing visibility (particularly
if you want instant visibility and attraction to a new product/service
or promotion). The PPC programmes can be used alongside your web site
optimisation programme (i.e. extending your keyword coverage) or they
can be used as a 'stand-alone' internet marketing tool
The benefits
to companies of being listed highly in search engines has meant that
competition to be highly ranked is very intense; optimisation of web
sites to achieve high rankings has become increasingly complex and
with search engines changing their algorithm criteria on a consistent
basis maintaining high rankings requires ongoing and consistent management.
PPC offers a direct way to employ marketing spend in a way that has
proven to be very cost effective as a quantifiable and quality ROI
method.
We provide
a comprehensive PPC campaign management service that covers the various
search engines available including Overture, Espotting and Google
Adwords.
Our PPC management service is designed to deliver maximum traffic
volumes while ensuring you receive the best value from your budget,
saving you both time and money.
To maximise
the Return On Your Investment we ensure the following areas are employed;
