Partially being a freelance web consultant and SEO being one of the services that I provide to some of my clients I am often surprised by the bad practices which marketing or tech. departments apply when trying to utilize one of the web’s main web traffic driving techniques : Search Engine Optimization.

As I see it many recurring mistakes are unnecessary and are a testimony to the shortage of specific knowledge of how to combine business and technological aspects in order to successfully perform SEO. While it depends on the nature of the goal that SEO is utilized for (improved search engine rankings, more web traffic, marketing, PPC) businesses usually pay the price for these counterproductive mistakes by losing both money and time.

In this post I will list 5 SEO tips that are at the heart of executing and maintaining a Strategic SEO plan for relevant business processes. In plain English these could for instance be an SEO campaign which is intended to increase web traffic to a website, or a online marketing campaign designed to distribute and sell products to specific target groups . . .

1 – Use or Make Sure the Correct Keyword Research Tool is Used

Whether you’re doing your own SEO, or when hiring an SEO Expert, not using the correct Keyword Research Tool can be a costly mistake. This is because most free keyword research tools don’t provide accurate keyword data and / or show twisted search volume results.

In my view, keyword research on a professional level has a strong relation to statistical market research and while information is at the base of decision making in any business, having access to correct data about keyword phrases and search engine volumes is non-negotiable. This enables the researcher (or internet marketer) to identify patterns, trends and entry points into a online markets.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that making decisions based on correct information is imperative for any online business related process to be successful. This can be a an SEO campaign intended to increase web traffic to your pages, or marketing a service or product online.

Of course as always, I recommend Wordtracker. This tool has giving myself and many others great results and has proven it’s value probably more than any other tool. The only drawback is that it’s not a free tool. However, if you’re serious about doing online business, even a one time monthly subscription usually provides information that’s much more valuable than the $59 USD subscription fee.

2 – Make SEO a Continuous Systematic Task – Evaluate and Adjust

After having optimized a web site for specific keywords, most businesses logically expect to see some results. Depending on if keyword research was done correctly or not, results may vary. In case results are pleasing, this by no means is an indication that the job is finished as it’s very important to keep maintaining SEO systematically. If this is neglected even the best results will eventually change and open may open up opportunities for your competitors to overtake you.

In order to maintain SEO results, continues keyword research is needed. The reason is because online markets are constantly changing. For example : new products coming out can create new niches and thus new keywords that are searched for by web surfers. One product bumping the other out of the market because it’s more popular would mean that it might be more effective to approach the market by optimizing for other keywords as well.

What this basically means is that keywords which are relevant now might be less relevant in the near future and SEO campagning is an continuous process of evaluation and re-optimization.

Note :
Developing Strategic planning for SEO isn’t easy. It takes thorough research and solid preparation; both in technical and commercial areas. Because of the complexity of Strategic SEO, and if the topic interests you, I suggest you take a look at Strategic SEO – Building an Optimal Keyword Attack Formula for Bloggers, which explains why adapting a strategic mindset for SEO is imperative for achieving long term results.

The article also describes how to translate commercial goal into a workable technical foundation, which in turn becomes a fertile soil for Strategic SEO. While the example used is a blog, the methodology is also applicable to single web pages or affiliate landing pages.

3 – Make Sure You or the SEO Expert you Hire knows Marketing

Finding a good SEO company or expert isn’t easy. If not doing SEO in-house, many businesses who plan to migrate a business process (for instance, the marketing of a specific product) online usually lack the knowledge needed in order to identify a quality Search Engine Optimizer.

What strikes me is that many Web Masters offer SEO services and base promises of huge traffic surges on positive results which they’ve had in the past. While some may be true, I personally don’t feel these statements hold much value for the person seeking to hire a good optimizer. To be more frank, and maybe some established optimizers will disagree with me for saying this, I believe that long term SEO results are achieved by looking forward and anticipation.

Here’s the thing, as said, the keyword landscape changes constantly. Markets and niches change. They are formed whenever products are introduced respectively taken out of a distribution. Aside from that, the factors that determine the success of an SEO campaign are also partly determined by uncontrollable external factors such as: a competitor’s SEO strategies and Google’s Search Engine Algorithms. As you might know these are all subject to periodic change, thus relatively uncertain.

You can imagine, taking all these factors into account, an SEO expert is going to need more knowledge than what he or she learns from reading a a book on SEO only. Most books provide the basics of how to perform page optimization, site structuring and link building.

They don’t however, teach you that prognosis of market changes and formations of new niches might hold extraordinary online business opportunities, let alone show you a case study as an example. In my opinion It’s about time that Keyword Research is viewed more as online market research.

This is emphasized even more by the fact that Wordtracker sign ups are able to download a free ebook with a case study showing how to use the tool for exactly these purposes. It just shows.

Coming back to hiring an SEO firm or expert, the points above should eliminate probably a few ’seo experts’ who make their services available, as some don’t even use anything else then free keyword tools and are only accustomed to drawing conclusions based on basic SEO Search Ranking Factors.

As a business owner or hiring party it’s good to remember : it’s easy to discover and correct basic SEO mistakes such as ‘not putting the correct keywords in the Title tag’ . Developing an SEO Strategy that’s intended to create a workable and flexible solution however is not.

If you are are planning on hiring an SEO expert or company to do your search engine optimization, make sure you know some of the basics. This way you will be able to exclude web masters who want to take advantage of your lack of knowledge on the subject.

Note:
In my opinion, businesses don’t need to hire an ‘expert’ or SEO firm in order to perform basic SEO. Information is freely available on the web and if your keyword research is good, then you can get some reasonable results and take it from there.

4 – Include SEO in Relevant Planning Processes

Whether your devising an online marketing plan or aiming to increase the traffic to your web pages, giving SEO its rightful place in the planning process is essential. On many occasions the amount of time it takes before SEO results become visible is unpredictable. A few months is very possible. This can lead to problems when you have a new product introduction scheduled and haven’t even begun your SEO yet. The optimization should probably already have been underway some time before the introduction is due. These are things that a good online marketing firm will take into account.

Good search engine rankings don’t happen overnight. It may take a while before seeing results. Making sure that results from SEO align as much as possible with goals you have minimizes the risk of being disappointed by the results.

It should be clear by now that neither in terms of ranking nor time lines, it’s not completely possible to predict Search Engine Optimization results. Because of this uncontrollable fact, Search Engine Optimizers can apply other tactics in conjunction with SEO in order to cover a little bit of this uncertainty.

Which brings me to the final tip,

5 – Minimize Risk and Maximize Results by Combining Advertising (PPC) and SEO

Opposed to optimizing web pages by SEO, there’s also an option to pay for traffic. The results of paid Advertising are instant traffic, exposure and potential revenue (if you happen to sell products). Google Adwords is a good example of what is called a Pay Per Click Program. This PPC Advertising program allows you to have a text advertisement distributed through the Google Adsense network, which ensures that your Ad shows up on relevant sites across the internet.

Providing that you or your business have a decent advertising budget to work with, PPC Advertising can be used in order to attract visitors to your web pages in the time that SEO results are still in the works.

Combining paid advertising with SEO can have a number of advantages :

When buying traffic in the same period as the Optimizing, you will receive traffic will be to your web pages and gain exposure regardless of what the SEO results are right now. In turn, depending on the nature of your web page, sales could be made and part of the advertising investment could be returned. Aside from this, the instant exposure of the advertised page also increases the likelihood of gaining links, which in turn also can help your keyword rankings.

Note of caution :
This in theory is very understandable and even seems easy. However, if you’re planning on trying these tactic’s, I urge you to either take enough time to learn read about Pay Per Click before you start spending money on every click, as many people have jumped into these these programs unprepared and end up loosing money without getting good results.

Though this post only tackles a few points, hopefully, it will still give enough people who are struggling with SEO on a business level some perspectives into what to look out for. I again also advice you to take a look at Strategic SEO – Building an Optimal Keyword Attack Formula for Bloggers, as it has a wealth of insights to teach you.

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