SEO

SEO and Web Marketing

Over 80% of internet users find new websites through search engines. Search engine users are some of the most qualified and motivated visitors to your site, since they found your site by hunting for a topic, then clicked to learn more.

For SEO, it’s not only important what you do, but how you do it and in which order. Adding keywords and submitting to engines is not all there is to achieving good results. Included here is important information about other types of internet marketing which forms an important part of your total campaign. When you mix SEO and internet marketing, you have a powerful strategy for boosting your search engine rankings and for bringing more visitors to your website.

1. Which keywords are best?

This can be achieved using research and programs to show you what users are searching for. The most popular keywords are not always the best keywords. If everyone’s using them, it makes it more difficult for your site to rank well above the competition. Sometimes choosing uncommon keywords will bring you a larger share of the market looking for your specialist service or product.

2. Domain research

A good, keyword rich domain name is very important. We’ll look at how to choose a good domain name, and what type of domain extension to register for certain types of markets. It is good to have more than one domain and important to manage your page re-directs carefully.

3. Page Optimisation

Many people optimise only their homepage, not realising that EVERY page of their website can be ranked, giving you a better chance of being found. Each page has different content, so users searching for different things could land up on the page which matches their search best. Page optimisation is also about creating a search engine friendly layout, the importance of a site map and text links, and rewriting the copy to maximise the return on important keywords.

4. Submitting to Search Engines

The secret is to submit to a few major engines, and to optimise your site for these few engines. The thousands of lesser search engines will find your site in time. By targeting the main engines, you are targeting the majority of internet users. Sometimes getting a good ranking on one engine could mean sacrificing a good ranking on another, so a decision has to be made which engine is most important to you.

5. Linking Strategy

Two-way link swaps no longer work. Major search engines such as Google have re-written their algorithms to place emphasis on websites which get one-way inbound links. There are several ways to get important one-way inbound links.

6. Special interest or tutorial websites

In the past, webmasters would publish multiple copies of their websites on different domains in an attempt to get more visitors. Search engines will penalise you for putting duplicate content on the web. However, if you maintain small hobby sites or practical “how-to” guides on topics relating to your website, you can use them to bring new visitors to your website. These sites can also be optimised for SEO to maximise the amount of visitors directed to your main site.

7. Pay-per-click campaigns

SEO takes a few months to reach full potential, therefore we need to supplement it with low-cost paid advertising. Pay-per-click means that your adverts will be displayed in a prominent position next to a search engine results page. The best news is that you only pay if the visitor clicks on the advert! It usually only costs a few cents to a few rand per click.

8. Email Marketing

Email marketing is an often neglected marketing channel. Emails need to be structured so that they are not seen as spam or caught by spam engines. They need to add value to the recipient, not just punt sales. You need to respect recipients that no longer wish to receive correspondence from you. We will also look at methods of building a great mailing list.

9. Free and Paid Advertising

You will be amazed at how many free adverts you can get on the internet. Each advert will bring in extra business and adds a one-way inbound link. There are also more traditional paid advertising methods such as banners and buttons. We identify certain websites as good places to advertise.

10. Web PR / Writing of articles

This is a great way to increase your web “footprint”. Articles can be written and submitted to many free websites, directories and blogs. It builds credibility when people get their answers from articles – the writer is usually seen an authority on the subject. We will look at what type of articles to write, where to get the info, and where they can be placed for free. Writing articles is an excellent way to get quality one-way inbound links. This method takes a bit more time, so is one of the more costly aspects of a comprehensive online marketing strategy.

11. Monitoring SEO

It’s important to monitor every aspect of your SEO campaign so that success can bve measured and so that we can build on and improve with each successive step.

12. General Tips

There are other important aspects of your website which affect SEO directly or indirectly, eg. good branding and user-friendly websites, plus other important pages or forms which every website should have. This is about adding credibility to your website to give visitors confidence in your company and encourage them to buy.