Many people are under the impression that search engine optimization is a one time job you hire someone to do.  It’s not. Search engine optimization should be looked as as part of your marketing plan. If you advertise only once somewhere then yes I guess you would get just as much use from a one time optimization. What I mean is your marketing plan is a fluid thing that never ends, you run ads here and there, you learn what works and you change it up, maybe run sales on different items to see what’s working. SEO is very much the same it’s a fluid thing that changes depending on what’s seen when stats come in.

There is the initial site optimization where for me it’s going in checking code markups, your copy, all the things that make the site correct for search engines but there is so much more.

What I wanted to make clear is if a company offers to optimize your site for a set amount, one time only, you are really only taking the first step, your site must be monitored and changed and tweaked to best suite what the analytics are telling us.

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I’m working on a course online and this is my homework article and thought I would put it here because it’s more important to clients, visitors and potential clients.

Search engine optimization is vitally important to anyone marketing on the web it’s really the cheapest way to get where you want to be on Google, Bing, and Yahoo (Bing being Yahoo it’s really important).  Yes I said cheapest. Even though a web marketer is going to have to pay for optimization the return on it is great when done right, much cheaper to do this then to run expensive ad campaigns that seem to not bring the returns expected.

There are over 14 billion searches monthly (probably more) and with search engine optimization that equals increased conversions, or more visits to sales. There are things a website owner should do also to maintain positioning on search engines one of the most effective keep your content fresh. Blogs are a fantastic way to always be adding fresh content and search engines eat them up. But blogging is a commitment, if started you must be consistent in your postings. Nothing is more telling than a website that has abandoned it’s blog. So if this is something you aren’t sure you can do or assign to someone in your company don’t do it.

There are other things that can be done, inbound quality links are just as if not more important than content. Quality inbound links (sites linking to you) tell search engines you have something important to share. Using services that add you all over the place without consideration of the quality of the site is a huge mistake. Inbound links should be researched and done carefully.

I could go on and on but bottom line, SEO is a requirement to any site wishing to make marketing online a success.

Why a Marketer Would Want to Include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in Web Marketing?

SEO Crash Course to Get Found (GF102)

I’m not going to tell you how to hire a designer, maybe some other time, but I am going to tell you what to have ready for your first appointment after the hire.

These are my opinions and experiences of course every company is different but here’s what I love to see during that first appointment. Most importantly remember this is your website, no one knows your company better than you. I have been to so many first appointments where the client says basically nothing about what they want or want to say. I can only do so much with brochures about your company. Show me, tell me what makes your company what it is. Sell me and I can sell you.

INFORMATION:

• Brochures, articles, catalogs, mailing pieces etc.. All the things you use to sell your company right now in real life.

• Spend time talking about the history of your company, there might just be something that you don’t think is interesting but can really be a draw for future customers. Most companies have something that makes them unique.

THE LOOK-what can take the longest time to put together is the “look of your site”, once that’s done it’s plugging in the information:

• LOGOS. Have ready for that first appt. logos, camera ready artwork etc.. On disk is best, scanning can lose a lot of quality and color.
• COLOR if your company uses specific colors in it’s advertising you need to know the exact colors you are using. If you’ve used a graphic designer to design logos they have the exact color information your web designer needs.  If you don’t have any ideas on color, if you’re a new company or a company looking for a change, you’ve got some work to do before your web designer appointment.
• SURF the Internet. Start looking at all kinds of websites, see what strikes your eye in color palettes, site layouts etc.. Start making notes of where you seen things, print sites, make notes. Again, this is your site, as designers we want to give you what you want not a copy of someone else’s site. Another idea to get ideas is to surf template sites, they give you a good idea of layouts and also search like companies, see what you like and don’t like. But I can’t stress enough do not tell your designer to make it look like so and so’s. Be unique, content is king.

Ask the questions that need asking like what about a domain name, what’s the charge? If you already have a domain how to you get the information to your designer. How will you see the site before it’s ready to go online so you can approve it. What about hosting? All sites require hosting, can they recommend, do they host, what’s the cost per month/year etc..

I hope this has given you a few ideas of what to have on hand. Don’t put your company’s reputation into the hands of someone who doesn’t know you without helping them to get to know you. Work together to get all the best out of both of your skills. Questions? Please feel free to ask anything. Whether you hire us or someone else the idea is to get YOU the best representation of your business online.

Search engine results-what are they? There are several types of search engine results.

• Organic or Natural search results. These are the results not paid for, for placement. Natural results are a result of the search engine finding the site naturally. These are the sites below and to the side of paid results, usually the paid are highlighted with a different color background and will be at the top and off to the right.

• Sponsored, Pay Per Click(PPC) or Cost Per Click (CPC) These are results where a company has bid on keywords and pays for each click to these ads. Theses ads are shown first at the top of the page and then to the right of the page. You will also see these ads on websites that choose to show targeted ads.

Improved site optimization will help in both situations. Organic or natural search results are hard to come by without a lot of time  spent on making your site as search engine friendly as possible. Ideally we know you want to be on the first page of any search engine, the chances of someone clicking to go on to page 2 are very much against you so there is work to be done, and it can be costly and should definitely be part of your budget when having a site created, evaluated, or redone. Website design does not always include this so be sure to ask that the site be optimized for optimum search engine placement-this does not include pay per click which for most companies is a completely separate service. Not all website designers do this, it can be a separate company that would do this. It’s best to ask questions up front. Never expect it to be part of your site design unless it’s specifically stated.