Blogging

In an ideal world, SEO would be taken into consideration from the earliest stages of a new website design process, and “baked in” to the site from the start.

(Okay, I take that back; in an ideal world we’d all have movie star looks, be in Olympic athlete condition, and have the net worth of Larry Page, so none of us would worry about arcane things like SEO. But I digress.)

In the real world, however, SEOs are often called in to optimize an existing site, after all of the URLs are created, the navigation is already in place and all of the content is written. While that obviously reduces flexibility and makes certain steps impossible, the site’s search performance can still be improved using this 12-step process.

1. Compile an initial keyword list

This involves two independent activities. First, generate a list of keywords based on the content of each page. Second, ask key individuals in the company (sales, top executives, etc.) for their lists of key search phrases. It’s not unusual to turn up several important 2-4 word key phrases that don’t even appear on the website!

2. Expand, verify and prioritize target keyword list

Use SEO keyword tools to expand your initial list of key words and phrases from step one, then prioritize the list based on search term popularity as well as value to the business. In other words, ask two questions for every key phrase: 1) how popular is this term among searchers? and 2) how likely is it that a searcher using this phrase is looking for what we have to sell?

3. Match keywords to pages

Once the keyword list is established, search terms should be mapped to specific pages. Each page can support, ideally, one “core” key phrase as well as 2-3 long tail variants. So, for example, a page optimized for a high-volume two-word phrase like “blue thingamabobs” could also be the target page for “screaming blue thingamabobs,” “blue thingamabobs sales” and “screaming blue thingamabobs sales.”

An excellent way to start matching keywords to phrases is to use Google Advanced Search. Enter your key phrase in the box for “this exact wording or phrase:” and your domain (in the form company.com) in the “Search within a site or domain:” box. If no good matches are found, you may need to rewrite an existing page to target the key phrase or even create an entirely new page.

4. Review URLs / Modify content and meta tags

Modifying URLs on an existing site is much more painful than using a search-friendly URL in the initial design, but can be worth the effort if the initial URLs were chosen with no regard for SEO. For example, if you sell call recording software, then a URL like call-recording-software.html is much more likely to get you ranked highly by the search engines than is a URL such as products.html.

In addition to URLs, perform other on-page SEO work to optimize each page for its corresponding set of target key phrases by optimizing title tags, on-page headings (h1, h2 etc. tags), use of key phrases in bold and italic, and a target keyword density of 1.5% to 4%.

5. Perform initial SEO check (baseline)

With on-site SEO tasks completed, it’s time to perform a baseline SEO check. This is like the “before” photo in a weight loss ad. Run you final list of key terms through an automated tool such as the SEO Chat keyword position tool or the SEOBook Rank Checker tool. The results probably won’t be pretty, but they are important, so save this check and back it up.

6. Re-submit site to search engines / Create and register Google site map

It’s true that unless you somehow have managed to create a site that absolutely no one links to, there is no need to manually submit your site to the search engines; they’ll find it (eventually). However, this step doesn’t hurt, it can get your re-indexed more quickly, and it only takes five minutes to hand-submit a site to Google, Yahoo and MSN, so there’s no real reason not to do this.

Next, create and submit an XML site map for Google. Again, there’s no guarantee this step will improve your search engine positioning, but it will help Google to index more of the pages on your site.

7. Identify sites for linking: by keywords and competitors

Perform searches for your top key terms as well as competitor names. Compile a list of sites for link-building efforts based on these searches.

8. Build external links

External links are a critical component of SEO. In addition to getting your site linked from appropriate directories and social media sites, undertake an effort to get your site linked on sites that show up well for searches on your key search phrases (such as blogs, publications, portal sites and specialized directories) as well as on sites where your competitors are listed. Here are several more tactics for SEO link building.

9. 30-day SEO check and report

These on-site and off-site SEO efforts should begin to show results within 2-3 weeks, but give it a month to be safe. After 30 days, run an updated search position check. Normally, this will show a mix of significant improvement in search engine position on some terms, more moderate improvement on others. The results will indicate for which terms additional efforts are needed.

10. Ongoing content edits

Based on the results of the 30-day SEO check, make additional content edits to improve search engine positioning for your “challenging” terms. These include title tag modifications, image alt tags and image file names, internal in-text links, on-page headings and page content.

11. Ongoing link building

Link building is a process; over time, you’ll discover new sites and blogs to approach for links, develop new link bait content (articles, podcasts, video etc.), and establish new relationships that can facilitate links.

Make sure to maximize the link-building value of your PR efforts as well by writing SEO press releases with keyword text links. (Here are more press release SEO tips for writing search optimized press releases.) Use Interactive PR practices to get your news linked from blogs and social bookmarking sites.

12. Monthly SEO checks / Ongoing reporting, analysis and optimizing

Monitor and analyze the results of your SEO efforts on a monthly basis, so you can bask in your successes and focus continuing efforts where needed. Review critical website analytics each month such as sources of traffic, top-performing keywords and navigation paths through your site. SEO isn’t just about driving more traffic, it’s ultimately about producing ROI, so focus efforts on getting visitors to take a desired action (purchase a product, sign up for a free trial, download a white paper, or whatever). If, for example, you’ve written a keyword-rich article on “Exciting New Applications for Screaming Blue Thingamabobs” that’s drawing a lot of organic search traffic, maximize the benefit of the page by linking to relevant white papers, demos and other materials on your site.

There you have it. If you’re relatively new to SEO, I hope you find these 12 steps helpful. If you’re an SEO pro, feel free to improve on this list by leaving a comment.

*****

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom

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12 Steps to Successful SEO

One of the biggest question we recieve from clients and potential clients is along the lines of “How do we measure our ROI” or “How do we know the campaign is working?”  This is definitely the largest gap in social media marketing right now.  However with a little bit of ingenuity you can pull some […]

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Measuring the success of a Social Media Marketing Campaign

Social media monitoring and social media measurement are two very different things, but I think many of the searchers and social media taggers using those phrases don’t always make the distinction. For some quick insight from a qualified audience, I turned to Twitter and within an hour had about 40 replies.

It started off with this Tweet: Twitpoll: What’s a better term: “social media monitoring” or “social media measurement”?

Many of the responses were a specific selection of “measurement” or “monitoring” but most pointed out that social media measurement and monitoring are different things. Monitoring is what you do to find information which you can then measure.

It was a pretty neat application of using Twitter for a quick poll with near immediate responses from professionals that might not respond to traditional polling methods. Below are the actual replies:

	dantemonteverde @leeodden social media monitoring
	jonkelly @leeodden not sure 1 is better, they are just different, no?
	zenaweist @leeodden two separate things (social media monitoring and social media measurement) related to each other.
	gilliatt @leeodden Also important to understand what assumptions people bring to the question. PR measurement is only one possible paradigm.
	brianchappell @leeodden yea they are completely different.
	mitchellhislop @leeodden monitoring-something this organic cant really be “measured””
	webprgirl @leeodden I like social media monitoring
	CarrieHill @leeodden - i call them 2 different things also measure = how much is sead - monitor = what is said
	ladyemma @leeodden measurement
	matt_mcgowan @leeodden measurement (gets point across better)
	alexaclark @leeodden Is ego-surfing an option? (But seriously I like “social media monitoring” better because “measurement” is still so imprecise)
	AdamIss @leeodden - online brand management. @sexyseo, I disagree that you can’t measure SM, it’s just that there aren’t decided upon standards.
	pageoneresults @leeodden Social Media Metrics?
	EdWords @leeodden I would go for ’social media monitoring’. In my opinion measuring is a way to monitor social media.
	ginakay @leeodden Measurement. Monitoring sounds so… big-brother-ish…
	eristoddle @leeodden measurement is less human and is being attached to social
	feydakin @leeodden monitoring sounds like you are doing more “work” than just looking at a chart..
	eristoddle @leeodden monitoring
	PeterHimler @leeodden social media monitoring is capturing the conversation; social media measurement is what you do with it after it’s in hand	>
	danperry @leeodden I prefer measurement

	brentnau @leeodden What is the context?
	gilliatt @leeodden Two different things.
	melaniephung @leeodden I think they mean completely different things, so it’s not a question of one being better than the other. What are you describing?
	revenuerobot @leeodden social media monitoring
	DaveTaylor @leeodden I’ll vote for “monitoring” for $20, Monty!
	jennmae @leeodden I prefer social media measurement
	AaronMSB @leeodden, I think “social media monitoring” and “social media measurment” are separate. Mon = content. Mea = hits/conversions.
	SexySEO @leeodden you can’t “measure “social media” you can only “monitor”
	hjomats @leeodden Depends on what you are trying to get out of it. Those two terms could be interpreted very differently
	Babiesonline @leeodden depends on if you want to monitor or measure, I suppose
	jtobin @leeodden They are two different tools. Monitoring = listening to me. Measurement = counting results.
	organicmania @leeodden Measurement. Many monitor, few know how to measure.
	adamsherk @leeodden sounds like 2 different things. monitoring for tracking activity/convos and measurement for trying to assign value to the activity
	SexySEO @leeodden monitoring
	MillerMosaicLLC @leeodden “Measurement.” “Monitoring” sounds too big brother-ish — unless you were going for that.
	KurtKrejny @leeodden social media monitoring
	BenjArriola @leeodden : social media analytics?
	JasonFalls @leeodden They’re two different things. Watching and counting.

One of the interesting things about social media monitoring tools like the one we use from our client, Radian6, is that you can actually see the effect of a thread like the one above. I didn’t throw out the query to Twitter for the purposes of promoting a client, although in hindsight that’s a pretty good idea as long as the client is relevant.

(Mashable and Twitter graphics added)

This image shows a 3 day period tracking “social media measurement”, “social media monitoring”, “social media analytics” and “social media metrics”. For this report, only blogs and micro content (Twitter) are being monitored, although we could watch mainstream media, video, forums and images as well as extend the time frame to multiple ranges or a specific start/stop date.

You can see a spike early in the morning July 31st for “social media measurement” when an article posted to the Mashable blog, “How to Measure Social Media ROI for Business” which was also syndicated by several other sites, repeating the use of the phrase. To the right you can see a smaller spike for “social media monitoring” which came from the today’s Twitterstream as documented in the above post.

Advanced social media monitoring tools like this one will also analyze the data being monitored and measured. The monitoring begins by defining a keyword based universe to track. Then specific reports can be setup to filter the data collected by the web crawler for measurement.

For example, analyzing comments, links and engagement with an algorithm allows the system to assign scores of influence to bloggers. That helps you decide which bloggers make the most sense to reach out to.

There is no “best phrase” when it comes to social media monitoring and measurement. There are plenty of tools for monitoring social media whether it’s free tools like Google Alerts or BlogPulse. Tools that begin to measure and analyze what’s being monitored, as you can imagine, cost money.

Here are several lists of companies that offer various types of online social monitoring, measurement and analysis tools.

• Nathan Gilliatt - Monitoring Social Media Before You Have a Budget
• Jeremiah Owyang - Companies that Measure Social Media, Influence, and Brand
• Smashing Magazine - Web 2.0 Buzz Monitoring and Tracking

Sponsored By: SES San Jose 2008 - Sign Up Now Save 10% with this code: SJ10TR

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Tweetpoll Results on Social Media Monitoring and Measurement

The slowdown across some sectors of the economy is forcing B2B marketers to pull back on spending, yet continue to produce great results (or else). With that in mind, MarketingSherpa last week presented their Top 10 B-to-B Marketing FastFixes: How to Generate & Nurture More Qualified Leads. Here are the highlights from the webinar.

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B2B Marketing Fast Fixes

The Internet is the place to be, where ever you are. But if you happen to be in Europe, then the Web really is a great place to advertise.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB Europe) released the findings of its annual advertising expenditure survey for 2007. Considered to be THE guide to the size and value of the European online advertising industry, its results showed that online advertising continues to grow, grow, grow, with “an average growth rate of 40% year-on-year.”

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Euro Online Ad Market Smoking Hot