Whether a business opts to use organic methods or to pay for its search terms, experts say it's important not to guess about the keywords it submits for its Web site's pages. "In the world of search engine optimization [SEO], it's important to know how people search for your business," says Patricia Hursh, founder of SmartSearch Marketing. "You may just assume you know what keywords people type in. But you need to do research on how people search. You want to understand what people type in."
Both Yahoo and Google offer free tools to help businesses research keyword selection, other paid tools include WordTracker, Trellian and Who's Talking's ClickPath. Yahoo's tool can be found at http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch; it will help a business determine the number of times a specific keyword or keyphrase is searched for monthly. Typically, one keyword or phrase is selected, plus a secondary word or phrase.
To improve SEO organically, "Take your main [and secondary] keyphrases and put them naturally within the text on your home page," advises Ryan P. Allis, CEO of e-marketer Broadwick Corp. "Repeat the main keyphrase four to five within the content. That process is called increasing keyword frequency." Allis suggests also incorporating the main keyword within the page title. "Increasing keyword frequency and getting the title right are the most important parts of on-site optimization."
Placement on Google search results is determined by Google's trademarked PageRank technology, a method of ranking Web pages developed by Google's founders. The system indexes a Web page by measuring its "importance" as determined by the number of pages that link to that page and the importance of those pages. Therefore, the pages are interdependent upon each other, creating, in fact, a "web" of interconnected pages.
Recent reports have suggested that organic optimization has been shown to have a higher return on investment than having to pay for each click to a specific Web site. For example, in September, WebSideStory, a Web analytics firm, released a report noting that keywords bought on a pay-per-click basis had a median conversion rate of 3.4 percent, compared with 3.13 percent for unpaid results for search queries. In addition, many computer users view clicking on paid advertising warily, says Allis. However, there are benefits to being on the first page of search results, and sometimes a company just has to buy its way in. "I would use Google Adwords and other CPC programs as simply different channels that you evaluate independently based on their ROI," says Allis. "I would suggest trying out a small test of $500 to $1000 on both Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing for your main keywords."
Allis' company spends roughly $50,000 each month on Google Adwords, and reports having success with the strategy. Adwords is a flexible program based on cost-per-click (CPC) pricing; ads are placed at the side of Google search results. You set a maximum CPC and only pay when a customer clicks on your ad, no matter how many times it is shown. Yahoo Search Marketing offers a similar service. Many small businesses use both methods strategically. Take Jerry Raskin, also known as The Needle Doctor.
Raskin started his business in 1979. What was once a business started in his basement wth the intention of getting his wife and him through college has turned into a life's work. The Needle Doctor has now evolved into an online store for audiophiles: Vestax turntables, Grado headphones and Monster cables are just a click away. Raskin has used a combination of paid and organic search to ensure maximum visibility for his site.
"We use keyword search tools on Google, which are all free; anyone can use them," Raskin says. "For example, we pay for the words 'audioquest' ($75 a day), and 'monster cable' ($500/day)." And if a potential customer clicks on, say "Artemis Labs," needledoctor.com will come up organically, ranked sixth. So finding the best keywords is crucial whther organic or paid search methods are employed.
Raskin knew cable products offer the highest profit margin in the industry, so in January, he set out to market his company's cable products, a move that reaped huge success;. "We spent $18,000 to $19,000 marketing this through Google, and not only did we make our money back, we made a profit. We more than doubled our sales, easily. We feel that we can make hundreds of thousands of dollars through Google promoting the brands we carry."
Adwords has largely replaced print advertising and attending trade shows for Raskin. The money he's saving by not traveling is largely funneled back into search advertising. "Before Google, I was marketing all over the world, spending alot of money on shows and promos. After Google, I'm anonymous," he says, admitting that he at first missed the attention a little bit. "I'd been spending $12,000 a month in Stereophile magazine. [After our online advertising success,] I put that money right into Google and never looked back. I realized it's better to just follow the money -- not your ego."
It's also important, he notes, not to forget the ultimate reason for getting a product in front of the Web-searching customer: To sell it and to create a relationship that will drive the customer to repeat business.
"Google gets you the hits, but the trick is converting them into sales. How you respond, how quickly, is as important as your stock," he says. "You always have to give them a reason to buy from you."
| Tips on SEO | |
The following are ways in which to optimize your small business for Internet search, courtesy of Stuart DePina, CEO of Who's Calling, maker of ClickPath.
|
|
