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Search
Engine Ranking
Despite what the spam emails will
tell you, getting to the top of Google, Yahoo!,
MSN is going to take time. And staying there is
going to require a continual investment. Anybody who
promises you top ten (first page of search engine results)
rankings on Google, Yahoo! and MSN for all of your target
keywords in 24 hours, or even a month, is selling ‘snake oil
remedies’. The razzle-dazzle ads tell people what they want
to hear, making wild promises that cannot be delivered upon.
The pricing for these too-good-to-be-true offers are usually
very attractive - $29.95, $49.00, $199.95 - and the ads lure
in many ‘something for nothing’ website owners.
SEO is not a one time ‘quick fix’
band-aid you can apply to a web site with little or no
traffic or return on investment. SEO is a moving
target, with
 search engines constantly changing
the algorithms they use to rank your site and competitors
aggressively making their own bids for the top ten ’holy
grail’ listings for your industry. I constantly have to
remind our clients that when we topple a competitor from the
first page they are going to be emailing their SEO (search
engine optimizer) within a few days demanding to regain the
lost positioning. SEO is war and the battle is an ongoing
one.
In sharp contrast, effective SEOs
and online SEM (search engine marketing) companies are
interested in building a long-term relationship with you.
(We have SEO clients that have been with us for more than 4
of our 7 years in this business. They stay because they get
results. We don’t lock in clients with long term contracts.)
If you invest $10,000 in an SEO/marketing plan from a
reputable SEO firm, and your website’s sales increase by
$250,000 in your first year or two, you have made a
brilliant business investment. If you invest $250 in a “Be
at the Top in All The Search Engines in 24 Hours” scams you
will lose the $250. But that’s not all. If they list your
site on FFA (Free for All) sites or place your links with
link farms, you could lose the rankings you already have, or
worse, find your site permanently blacklisted.
(Incidentally, there aren’t 5,000+ search engines you need
to be submitted to.)
Is Do-It-Yourself SEO for
You?
Is it possible to do your own SEO
and search engine marketing (SEM)? Absolutely. However,
effective SEO is a lot of work and I have rarely heard of a
website owner with the time or commitment to learn how to do
it properly and actually see it through. Having said that,
if you choose to embark on this path I suggest you first
consider purchasing
Get to the Top on Google: Tips and Techniques for Get Your
Site to the Top of Search Engine Rankings — and Stay There,
SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible or the
SEO Book ebook. Read them through very carefully, cover
to cover, with a highlighter, making copious notes on how
you will apply the techniques to your own website. You
should have several pages in your SEO ‘To Do’ list. Once you
fully understand what is involved you can decide whether
you’re going to do it in-house or leave it to a
professional.
1) Keyword Research:
It all begins with the selection of the right keywords for
your website’s topic. Most of our customers are looking for
top placements for very generic keywords (ie: ‘cell
phones’). Depending on your website’s topic and the
competitiveness of the industry you’re involved in, gaining
top ten rankings for very generic keywords can take years of
carefully planned ongoing labor. We do target very generic
keyword search terms, where we’re competing against hundreds
of thousands or millions of other Google listings, but as
long term projects. Our objective is to provide a return on
investment for our clients as quickly as possible, so
selecting the right keywords is critical. Targeting a dozen
highly competitive keyword search terms is not likely to
achieve the search engine rankings you want, the traffic or
the sales your company needs; at least not on the short
term. There are many software and online tools that can help
you select keywords that will yield far quicker returns. We
use
WordTracker and the
Google Adwords Keyword Tool, among other proprietary
tools, to select keyword phrases that are being searched
frequently, yet are not extremely competitive. The chances
of gaining top rankings for less generic keywords (ie:
‘samsung phones vancouver’ or ‘toronto cheap cell phones’)
is considerably easier in the short term and can deliver
very noticeable traffic increases in a few months. You want
to be picking up all the easy-to-get low hanging fruit
before you attempt to pick the apple at the very top of the
tree. Gaining top ten rankings for some impossibly
competitive generic keyword search term may provide a much
needed ego stroke and revenue for some SEOs, but it is
unlikely the effort or cost involved will provide a return
on investment. Spending a day or two at the outset of your
SEO/SEM project to select the best keywords to target can
greatly increase its effectiveness and yield significant
dividends.
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