SEO can be an extremely powerful and important component to your business marketing. Search engine optimization is a specific area within search engine marketing (SEM) that focuses on improving your website’s search engine ranking results through improvements to your site’s web pages. Being the more popular and common term, what you think of as SEO may include elements of SEM as a whole.
While Identity Developments provides SEO focused web design in the development of all sites, search engine optimization can be undertaken with existing websites as well. SEO can be customized to address your needs, goals and budget constraints.
Evaluation & Keyword Research
Search engine optimization, like web design, often starts with evaluating your current situation. Determining your search engine placement and positioning within the results. Research may be conducted to determine the key search phrases used by those seeking your products or services. These search terms are frequently different than what you would expect.
After determining key search phrases, these may be used to optimize your site’s copy to help your website show up for or improve current rankings for searches on these terms. Keyword research, the foundation of SEO, can often help identify entirely new areas for content development, or even new products or services to offer. It can also be used in other search engine marketing areas outside of SEO, such as PPC advertising campaigns on search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN as well as others. These phrases may also be valuable to target for link building campaigns.
Impact On Advertising & Marketing
Search engine optimization can also be a powerful tool in your advertising and marketing efforts. Whether your customers come from all around the world or are limited to your local area, improving your search ranking can help drive more business to your bottom line. With most searchers limiting their attention to the first page or two of search results, and primarily the first 3 to 5 results on page one, it is important to take an active role in improving your results.
This has never been more true than today with the increasing focus on local search. With around 50% of searches being done for local businesses, products and services, improving your search ranking connects you with more potential customers right in your own backyard.
Traditional advertising is not only very costly, but it is more passive in nature. It is built on the idea of “tossing” your message out there for the masses and seeing if anyone notices.
Search engine marketing is much more active in nature. When people are searching for solutions to their problems or looking for products or services that you offer, they are not only a very targeted audience, but they are in a position to act on what they find. They can call you, email you and maybe even buy right then and there.
Small Business
If you are a small business, you will find Internet marketing to be one of the most powerful opportunities you have. The web is a great equalizer, allowing mom-and-pops to stand next to big corporations. As a small business, you may not be able to compete with the advertising and marketing budgets of big business at the traditional marketing and advertising mediums.
But optimizing your website for search engines helps your site show up in organic, or natural, search results. Unlike paid placement, you don’t buy your way into position, you earn it through search relevancy. And we do that through search marketing and SEO.
While not an exhaustive list, SEO/M often involves some of the following tasks:
- keyword research
- competitive analysis
- link building
- onsite optimization
- paid search marketing (PPC, PPA, etc.)
- content development and/or recommendations
- search rank tracking
It is important to understand that SEM, especially SEO, is an over-time effort, rather than an overnight task. Much research and effort goes into search engine optimization on the front end, efforts are implemented, and then monitored and tweaked over time for the best results. The goal of any SEO campaign is to maintain steady, consistent progress towards the goal.
SEO/M services vary considerably in complexity. Identity Developments can customize the services specifically to your needs. These typically range range from $5,000 a month and up, depending on project needs and scope.