<p>Between all the social networking, blogging, twittering, linking, and all, online marketing is becoming extremely confusing to stay on top of. However, most companies have a general understanding that it is more important than ever to have an online presence so that you and your business can be found. You need to be seen, and not by just anyone, but the right audience needs to be viewing your website. When your prospects are online and ready to buy, don&rsquo;t you want your website to be the one they are looking at? ...Enter SEO: the strategy for getting your company listed on Page One of Google and other search engines. Despite what you may have heard, it is a highly technical discipline with hundreds of aspects.<span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span>In today&rsquo;s market, anything that can be automated is irrelevant. Things that used to work no longer do, and Google and the other search engines have developed standards to reward websites with good code, content, and relevancy and punish those using &ldquo;black hat&rdquo; tactics, intentional or not. </span></p> <p><span>Keyword research is the most important first step in a successful online marketing campaign. Exhaustive keyword research and selection establishes a bulwark for most of your online marketing efforts.<span>&nbsp; </span>Done properly, the keywords identified in the research process inform organic search, local search, sponsored search, link building campaigns, press releases and more.</span><span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Arial Unicode MS&amp;quot;;"> </span><span>From there, competitive analysis, website code and content analysis and the subsequent optimization are the key steps in gaining visibility on the major search engines. <span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p><span>While there are simple things you can do on your own to improve the visibility of your website, search engine optimization is technical and it takes time. It is a long term marketing strategy that needs monitoring as the internet constantly evolves.</span></p> <p><span>How to find a legitimate SEO company</span></p> <ol style="margin-top: 0in;"> <li><span>Do a search. Look up &ldquo;SEO company (enter city name here)&rdquo; and see who comes up. If they were good at what they did, they would probably be doing a pretty good job for themselves.</span></li> <li><span>If they tell you they can guarantee a #1 ranking, run. No one can guarantee ranking because it is based on some factors out of the company&rsquo;s control. The reason people are interested in being on Page One is because it is a listing that you can&rsquo;t pay for, and therefore, is more trustworthy to consumers. </span></li> <li><span>Make sure whoever you are talking to specifies that they are optimizing your website for <em>organic</em> listings. Recently, a prospective client of mine was told that he could be ranked #1 on Google in 15 minutes and sure enough, there he was. The placement was at the top of the page in Sponsored Search, which is Pay-Per-Click Advertising. Of course, if you are willing to spend enough money, you can find yourself at the top of Sponsored Search.</span></li> </ol> <p><span>Takeaway: Do your research. There are plenty of experienced professionals in the SEO industry, but there are even more &ldquo;un-professionals&rdquo; </span></p> 2008-12-17T17:34:01Z -13.9712 322 2530 true 15 21445 seo-dont-fall-for-fakes 4 2008-12-20T15:12:00Z 2008-12-20T15:12:00Z

Everyone gets calls from companies claiming to get them ranked #1 on Google, increase web traffic, and generate leads, but who really does?

0 2009-02-24T09:47:58Z