Search is not just about keeping up with algorithms, it’s about keeping up with customers. The customer is, after all, the most important part of the process. Provide customers with what they want, and serve it to them in a fresh and engaging way, and you gain loyalty, trust and authority.
Search engines like good content too, and generally speaking, the more of it, the better. But how do you strike the balance in a content rich site with a commercially viable site?
The main question to ask of your content is, “Does this represent useful information for my potential customers?”
Useful content is an essential part of the user experience so it’s important to ensure you make their stay as relevant and high-value as possible.
Good quality content doesn’t come cheap, it takes time & commitment, but it does last. It’s also important to have diverse content on your site. Take a look at Google’s shift to universal search. This means news, video, images, blogs, products & local listings all have a chance of page 1 listings. Ensuring the content of your site caters for your diverse customer set is likely to give you a greater chance of appearing in the blended results more common on Google’s 1st page listings.
Shout About Your Compelling Content.
Good links will significantly improve your rankings so make them relevant and authoritative. Established sites with good rankings and lots of links from other authority sites pass the most value from their links. Do your research, constantly evolve your target list, and set a plan for each.
You can use the simple, direct approach and just ask the site owner but think, what’s in it for them? You could write content for them or perhaps offer the use of a widget/tool which aids their customers’ experience. Remember, one man’s juice is another man’s poison. Offering to write 5 pages of content for a news site with an army of journalists just won’t hold water.
Blogging could help drive a number of good quality links but if you opt for this approach, make sure you’re wholly committed to it. Successful blogging isn’t an activity, it’s a mindset!
Make sure you engage the community you’re blogging about, pick an area within it and try to become an authority. Once you have this status, you’ll find it easier to approach industry leaders and ask for their comment.
Better still, write about them and invite them to comment on your post, they may even write about you on their site. This approach takes time, dedication and perspiration, but then anything of value typically does! Remember, high-value link building is a people industry, make sure you compel them to interact.
What Part of SEO Drives the Revenue?
As the recession bites people are looking for the best deals online. Evidence points towards an increase in value related search terms (‘cheap’, ‘deals’ & ‘bargain’) but the evidence also points towards a slight decline in transactions. So, in the current climate, should you invest more effort into the searches or the buyers? The answer is of course the buyers.
Google’s new clickdetail referral URLs enable tracking systems to pick up the position of your site listing as well as the volume of both traffic & customers at keyword level. At a glance, it is now much easier to identify the terms that generate significant revenue from a lower page 1 position. These terms represent the best opportunity to drive increased revenue in the short-term and should therefore be the focus of any well managed campaign.
It’s really important to track SEO to conversion. With conversion tracking in place, the traditional means of reporting is now strengthened with a view on customers & revenue by keyword. It means SEO efforts can be honed in to those terms that generate revenue, as opposed to those that look good, have a high listing but just generate clicks.
There’s a common misconception that organic search is free. Of course it isn’t. It relies on a combination of compelling site content, strategic link building and clever analysis. Success costs money, so whether you choose an agency like hômejames, use an in-house team or a combination of the two, invest wisely in your SEO campaign, plan well and you will reap the rewards.