SEO: Stepping Up the Level of Marketing

SEO used to be an unfamiliar term until the middle of 1990s when web developers and content writers started pushing specific websites into the fore for more visibility. They called such action as Search Engine Optimization. Commonly known by its acronym SEO, Search Engine Optimization is a cost-effective and easy method to effectively position a website or web page in such a manner that it can be readily seen by as many people as can be.

It is common knowledge that millions of people use the internet daily for information, news across the globe, keeping in touch with friends and family, product and services’ reviews, and even for entertainments and games. This is the very reason then that web developers and tech-savvy individuals make use of the opportunity to convince and assist online marketers and business owners to optimize their sites and pages to increase visibility, traffic, and eventually, generate more sales. SEO even gives small-scale entrepreneurs the opportunity to grow into a large-scale businesses by putting their products and/or services before a wide range of potential market. Basically, to make an SEO campaign effective, it does follow certain guidelines, namely:

Content. The products and/or services should be presented in such a manner as to evoke the curiosity of the potential buyer or end user. It is never enough to display an aesthetically-designed web page, but which content does not speak much of what the page is trying to drive at. A well-written content should speak sensibly of the products and/or services it aims to promote. This what makes potential buyer pore over the site and may even elicit his interest to open business transaction with the site owner. Besides, a satisfied searcher may visit the site more often. The more visits a website or page receives, the higher its chances at converting these visits into business deals or sales. Likewise, satisfied visitors have the power to recommend the site to their respective families, friends, and associates, consequently establishing a brand name or byword.

Meanwhile, a poorly written content pulls the website or web page down to the bottom of the search engine result pages.

Valid HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. Just as humans have their own sets of language, vocabulary, and grammar to communicate with one another and to obtain common understanding among themselves, so does an HTML has its own syntax, vocabulary, and grammar that are decipherable by other computers. HTML literally serves as building blocks of all websites.

Keyword phrases. As the term itself suggests, keywords or keyword phrases are the ones that make an accurate identification of a website. It should be noted that the principle that applies in internet searches is that, “it is the customer that searches for the product or service”, which is opposite to conventional marketing. What online marketer should, therefore, do is to help the searcher or customer find him by providing a keyword or keyword phrases that best captures his website or web page. It should be specific and unique since search engine spiders read only appropriately-chosen keywords. [ne]

Why not?

Perhaps, due to lack of funds, or not having enough knowledge about search engine optimization, many small-scale business owners are still adamant and skeptical about getting help from an SEO professional in promoting their web sites. Most often, the primary reason for skepticism is when they only look at the overall cost that reflects five- or six-digit figures, without even giving due consideration to the long-term benefits that they can get in return. In this case, it is important to first make business owners understand how SEO works for them.

The basic principle that applies here is that when you push for your product, service, or advocacy online, your main objective is to draw the people’s attention to it, with the ultimate aim of closing a deal or winning them over to your cause. It is not enough to just set up a web site and wait for the sales to come rolling in. There are millions of web sites on the internet, each vying for traffic, selling varied stuff in different ways. If and when your web site or page is not positioned prominently, all efforts will just be in vain.

The fact that you have put up a web site or page for your product, service, or advocacy you are already a step upward in the success ladder. Drag it further up by shelling out a little more from your budget for the services of a search engine optimization firm or team. A hard working SEO team will achieve for you tremendous benefits you might have never known before. Specifically, it obtains for you the following:

Awareness. Billions of people at varied age levels hit the search engines daily and successfully find or obtain what they sought for through the internet. Of these numbers of searches, how many would you want to get through to your own site? How much traffic do you want? Do these searchers find you, at all? Or, do they find your competitors, instead? Studies reveal that in about 50 percent of all online searches, only those sites that are found in the first two pages of the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) get the most views. Therefore, if your site or page is way farther down in SERP, your chance of getting viewed is very slim.

Getting help from an SEO expert, however, will push your web site and/or page right up to a better visibility position; and it updates you with a detailed report on website rankings, including your own page’s position in it.

Traffic. A professional and hardworking SEO team is capable of launching your web page even from the tail-end to the topmost of the SERP; thereby, increasing your visibility and traffic. Besides, the team will provide you with a regular report on web page traffic, which usually includes the kind of traffic you are receiving and where it comes from. Even as your web page gets better visibility, you simultaneously receive remarkable effects, that you will already be able to gauge your return of investment.

Increased productivity. It is all right to do your own SEO work for you can save on monetary expenses. But if you have other things to attend to and you are not yet adept with such type of work, you will sadly realize that it is more costly than hiring a qualified team to do it for you. When you delegate SEO work to a team of experts to improve your web page ranking, design, and to perform whatever intricacies involved in maintaining your website, you will be free to perform your executive functions and to attend to other pertinent activities.

Value of investment. When you compare the cost of hiring an SEO team against the benefits you get in return, you will be pleasantly surprised that the cost is actually too little. [ne]

The internet has never been so crowded in its entire history than now, with all those sites and web pages seeking to get the attention of countless visitors and tech-savvy web denizens. This is no longer the time for online marketers to just wait for visitors or searchers to come by; for every single day, thousands or even millions, of new web sites and pages come up with newer and fresher ideas. Unless you do something with whatever you are promoting, you will eventually get drowned into oblivion unnoticed.

In not so long past, most of the small-scale business owners were quite apprehensive and adamant about applying SEO on their online projects because of that certain feeling of “uncertainty”. It was quite understandable since the term was still new to their ears. But there were also those who took the initiative of doing their own SEO, inexperience notwithstanding. But the result was not satisfying – so, they had realized!

If your website, then, is getting fewer views than you projected, perhaps there is something amiss with it. Most often, the problem arises on its lack of appeal to viewers, or that, it is hardly seen. It could also be that your content lacks substance, or only a handful knew you exist online. If your situation falls in any of these categories, then it’s high time you consider consulting an SEO expert.

There are two ways by which you can obtain the services of SEO experts. You can hire SEO individuals and let them work exclusively for you, or you may outsource the SEO job to a team or firm. The first option is quite expensive since these experts can demand high salaries. Besides, you need to put up additional office space, equipment, and other facilities to accommodate them. Aside from salaries, you also have to provide benefits for them like health care, and insurance.

For small-scale businesses who are still starting off and whose budget is under constraint, hiring in-house SEO personnel is not so good an idea.

On the other hand, outsourcing SEO job to a team of experts can significantly lighten your burden, as these people can do a wide range of tasks without you having to provide for their office space, rent, and other benefits, saving so much expense on your part. Aside from being cost-effective, outsourcing SEO job gives you with these advantages:

Team of experts. Signing up with an SEO team means getting a group of qualified individuals to work on your web site and position it right to the fore of your target market and potential customers. This also saves you from the tedious process of sorting through resumes, interviewing, and hiring individuals to work for you. With a team, you can even consult and ask them for new concepts, take advice from them regarding technicalities, structuring, and management of content for your site. They can readily conduct forums, blog posting, take care of your social media marketing, link building, e-mail support, keyword position support, and other services pertinent to SEO work.

Experience and knowledge. A reputable team, who has been in the business for a significant period is in a better position to advise you on what works best in promoting your site or page. They have most likely gone through varied challenges and issues regarding website development, and from such experiences, they are able to make sound marketing plans and strategies.

Contractual work. You can readily review the performance of an SEO team or firm and verify its output, from which you may draw your decision to retain its services or not. Besides, you are not required to give them separation pay in the event you want to discontinue their services.

Once you have decided on the appropriate SEO team, you are then able to focus more on your other relevant business transactions without having to worry about not getting enough website traffic for the day. [ne]