Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can sometimes be an after-thought for some marketers. It is difficult to find the time to devote to something that isn’t seen or read by a user. It’s not a Flash presentation that demonstrates how a product works or graphics that support the brand. It is, in my view, much more powerful than that.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can sometimes be an after-thought for some marketers. It is difficult to find the time to devote to something that isn’t seen or read by a user. It’s not a Flash presentation that demonstrates how a product works or graphics that support the brand. It is, in my view, much more powerful than that. SEO is the way you open the door and lead people to your website. It is how you identify who you want to visit your website and it’s how you control how they get there. It shouldn’t be the last thing on the list of website enhancements – it should be the reason you make website enhancements.
I know SEO can be a little overwhelming at first but if you have a process and you carve out some time to get a few essentials done on a regular basis – you’ll benefit from the results.
At Fenix, we have a process that we run through with clients that goes something like this:
1. Competitive Analysis
It is important to know what your competitors are doing and perhaps even discover new competitors that you were not aware of.
2. Keyword development
This is not only the obvious keywords, it’s an opportunity to look at products and services a little differently and explore other avenues for opportunity.
3. Research
This is where you test all the great ideas you came up with in step 2. Tools such as Word Tracker, Yahoo Overture and Keyword Discovery can help you test and find alternatives for some of your keywords.
4. Information Architecture
We typically incorporate the keywords we land on into the information architecture. We want to make sure that each keyword has a place on the site and fits into the overall objective.
5. Design
This is where our designer comes in and works his magic. Having someone who has an understanding of SEO, usability and technology to design your website is very important. There are so many things that can affect the success of your website you want to make sure that everyone understands the big picture.
6. Content development
This is the tough part. If budget allows, we often recommend that our clients get someone to write their website content for them. Often the fresh perspective from an outsider can bring the content to a whole new level. Regardless, we want to see keywords and phrases incorporated at this stage.
7. Development
There is a number of different things that need to happen as you are developing the website to support your SEO initiative – too many to list here without boring you to death but there are a number of things that we do to ensure that search engines find and rank your site.
8. Launch
Promote, Promote, Promote. Once the site is live you want to make sure that everyone knows about it. Build links with associates and partners and make sure that your industry knows about it.
9. Analysis
This is where we give you the tools to start the process over again. Based on the information we collect at the analysis stage we tweak and continue.
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