Businesses that want to increase search engine placement and visibility online have a plethora of options. Today we are going to discuss just a few of the things you can do to get you on the road to total search engine domination.
1. Website – to create a search engine optimization strategy you start with targeted keywords, copywriting, blog content, and ad placement. If you are new to this it can be pretty daunting, there are a few tools free and for a fee that can help you out with this.
- Google Trends
- Google Insights
- Google Keyword Tool
- SEOQuake
- Wordtracker
- WordStream
- Hubspot
- Overture
First make a list of competitor and industry leader websites, and then go to the sites listed above to see what keywords they are using well and what keywords and phrases they are missing that you may be able to capitalize on.
2. Blog – most websites are static and though the copy in the site is written to strengthen your targeted search goals when that text doesn’t change very often the search engines stop paying attention. A blog is a dynamic site that can enhance and strengthen a keyword strategy. Blogs should be updated regularly and contain content that is engaging, entertaining, educational, and search engine targeted.
3. Backlinks – after you have your static web pages set and your blog up and running, next you want to build backlinks with other websites and blogs. Through content syndication, blog commenting, directories, press releases, article posting, forms, and web profiles you can gain incoming links that will tell the search engines where your expertise lies.
4. Web Profiles – social and business profiles not only give you additional links to keyword and brand for search engine placement but they also give you some backlinks for your website and blog. You should start with sites that will get you coveted search engine placement through their popularity i.e.
- Youtube
What is coveted search engine placement? When someone searches your name or company name the first items that will come up should be your website and blog but next you will see the four sites we listed above. So you won’t just have one listing you will now have multiple links on the search engines and this will give people that are searching or validating your business more sites to look at to get to know who you are.
5. Niche Web Profiles – after you have built up your profiles and interactive communities on the popular networks you should then target niche networks that enhance your company brand and put you in front of your target audience. Niche networks are typically smaller than the main stream networks but gain their strength in the laser focus of the content. The content of a niche network can be based on industry, topic, gender, age, location, really the sky is limit.
6. Exposure – forums used be and still are a great way for you to show expertise in a given subject and get some additional links on the search engines but now we also have question and answer sites.
- Quora
- Focus
- Aardvark
- stackoverflow
- Stack Exchange
These sites allow you to establish your expertise by asking and answering questions that showcase the depth of your knowledge in an industry or topic. These communities are growing which will put your answers in front of a lot of people. On top of the growing communities the search engines are indexing the forum question topics like they do tweets, articles, and web pages. So this means that you will get exposure in and outside these popular sites.
And if that weren’t enough these sites give you the equivalent of a focus group. Do you have a new project, venture, or product that you would like to launch? Well why not test out the reaction to your idea on a question and answer site.
As you can see there are a lot of ways for individuals and businesses to gain search engine placement and with so many options it can be a bit overwhelming. To get started just remember to start with your goals, look at your resources, create a manageable and scalable plan, and then consistently work your plan. Whatever you strategy the key is consistency; to see results and give your plan longevity will take time and follow through. You can add and subtract as you get the hang of it, but do not expect overnight results.
