Success with Search Engines

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Increase the volume and quality of visitors to your website with Search Engine Optimization services from Shelly Webber Consulting.  Search engines are the origin of roughly 70% of all visits to your website, so having your website indexed by the leading search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN is key to your Internet success.

Organic Search Engine Optimization

One of the first concepts our staff explains to potential SEO clients is that being successful on the Internet takes the same commitment of time and resources as being successful in real-world business; there is no easy way to be number 1. In simple terms, search engines evaluate your website in a similar way that people evaluate a brick and mortar business. In a brick and mortar business, most owners want their customers to see that their business is clean and professional.  Further most business owners want their customers to easily find the information or product they want. Finally, business owners hope that their customers leave with a positive impression of the business, an impression that would allow the customer to recommend the business to a friend or collegue.

Search Engine Evaluate Your Website Similarly

What seems organizationally obvious in a real world business sometimes gets lost in translation to a company’s website.  In an in-person business like a department store the store provides the customer

 

  • a concise entry point (the front door)
  • additional entry points targeted at specific market (doors that allow entry to home furnishings, women’s clothes, fragrance counter, etc.)
  • several unique departments where staff and products are geared to specific needs (again, home furnishings, women’s clothes, etc.) and
  • ease of movement between departments (aisles, signage that indicate how to get from here to there, store directory)

 

Just as a store provides these tools for the customer, your website should provide these tools to appeal to both search engines and users. The only difference between search engines relationship to your website’s and your customer’s relationship to your in-person business is the language we use to accommodate the key elements above:

 

  • Your website has a home page, not a front door.
  • Your website has additional entry points called landing pages, which are (generally) concise pages describing one of your departments
  • Your website has sections, not departments. These unique sections are clearly identified to users through text on your site and to search engine spiders via meta data and page titles.
  • Your website has navigation, instead of aisles and signage, to get the browser and search engine spider from one point to another. Your navigation should be easy to read for both your human browsers and for search engine spiders.
  • Your website has a sitemap and robots.txt, not a store directory, to tell search engines the location of ALL the pages on your website.

 

In short, search engine spiders use the same logic in looking for and evaluating your website, for the most part, as an in store client would.

The Competition

Another aspect of success in both real world business and online business is knowing your competition.  The on-site organic search engine optimization methods mentioned above relate specifically to your website alone, but we all know that your website is not alone on the Internet.  Your website competes against every other website within your vertical for the same search phrases, also known as keywords.  Therefore, part of any search engine strategy should include analysis of your competition within your field, as well as monitoring of your website versus your completion over time for a group of specific search terms.

Getting Started

Shelly Webber Consulting recommends creating a baseline for both search engine optimization and marketing strategies by having your website audited.  Before we can perform a website audit, you will need to determine what search terms (keywords) for which you want your website to do well at search engines .   Shelly Webber Consulting also requests that the client identifies who they think their competition is.   Often your online competitors are differ from your perceived competitors.  To learn more about website audits, see our website audits page.

While Shelly Webber Consulting recommends completing a website audit before beginning any optimization or marketing campaign, we also offer all of our organic search engine optimization services  ala cart:

 

  • Onsite Search Engine Optimization (Meta Data, XML sitemaps)
  • Keyword Research
  • Analytics Installation, Customer Data Reporting
  • Professional Copywriting Service

 

Once your website has been optimized organically, Shelly Webber Consulting also offers a variety of search engine marketing tools to further enhance your reach to targeted potential clients.