Effective SEO The Basics of Everything You Need to Know

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1 of 8 Effective SEO The Basics of Everything You Need to Know If your company s website isn t listed in the first results of a search engine query, it isn t likely to be found at all. In order to have a chance at capturing your prospects attention, your website needs to appear right at the top. This guide shows you how to get there. Introduction A recent study revealed that web search is second to as the most popular online activity and closing the gap rapidly. Sixty million American adults use search engines on a typical day, and 85% of all business buyers start with an online search when trying to locate a product or service. Given this rapid shift in the rules of marketing, online lead generation should be a core component of any company s marketing plan. Unfortunately, search engine optimization (SEO) is a process still shrouded in mystery for most sales and marketing executives. While it is true that many advanced SEO techniques are difficult for laypeople to understand, you don t need advanced technical knowledge to comprehend the basics. Using a real world example, this detailed Guide will walk you through the SEO process, giving you the beginnings of everything you need to know in order to put SEO to work for your company. Websites that have excellent search engine rankings combined with strong offers and conversion mechanisms are powerful lead generation machines for businesses of all kinds. For starters, SEO is made up of three core components: keyword research, textual optimization and link building. To achieve optimum search engine rankings, you need to do all three not just one or two. In this Guide, you will see an example of the textual optimization process and the explanations behind the choices made. Also, you will learn how you can easily generate inbound links to your website and how to choose appropriate link text. A list of helpful resources that will help you in the SEO process is included, as well. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Step 1: Keyword Research 2 Step 2: Textual Optimization 3-4 Step 3: Linkbuilding 5-6 Step 4: Conversion 7 Conclusion 8

2 2 of 8 Step 1: Keyword Research The Starting Point The starting point for any SEO effort is to understand which keywords your prospects are using to locate your product or service on Google, Yahoo or MSN. Once you have identified these keywords, you can embed them into your website in optimal fashion so the search engine crawlers will allow your target buyers to find you. How do you determine which keywords should be optimized? As the basis for this demonstration, we ll use the sample company, Consultative, Inc., which develops and deploys lead generation programs for B2B organizations. Given the company s focus, it s probably not surprising to you that the keyword Lead Generation will be at the center of this optimization effort. For your own efforts, however, you might need a little extra help to flesh out the right keywords to target. Fortunately, there are two free online tools that can be useful: a) Google AdWords Tool The Google AdWords Tool ( com/select/keywordsandbox) gives many suggestions of more specific uses of Lead Generation as well as a long list of similar words to use. From studying the sample page (Fig. 2), you can tell that telesales is also prominently featured and Google s similar keyword list includes words such as telemarketer, teleservices, and teleselling. Since Telesales is already present twice in the text integration of these similar words into the text can be successfully accomplished, allowing the tele -terms to achieve excellent rankings. b) Yahoo Search Keyword Tool Yahoo Search (formerly Overture) has a Keyword Suggestion tool located at com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/. You can plug in lead generation and the tool (Fig. 3) shows how many searches have been done over a month s time for not only lead generation, but for more specific searches containing lead generation. Search queries such as lead generation system, lead generation program, and sales lead generation have all generated a significant number of searches these terms should also be included in the targeted text, if possible. c) Google Tilde (~) Trick Doing a Google search for targeted keywords with a tilde in front of the term ~ Lead Generation, will also give you good ideas for synonyms that can be included in the text. Make sure you set your results page to show the top 100 results. Scroll down the page to see which words are boldfaced those are the terms that Google feels are synonymous with your phrase. Many in the SEO community believe that including tilde synonyms in the text will greatly assist in achieving top rankings for your targeted term. From this type of search, you can see that it would be beneficial to have the words lead and leads present within the text however, they should be used in a context other than lead generation. Fig. 2 - Google AdWords Tool Fig. 3 - Yahoo Search Keyword Tool

3 3 of 8 Step 2: Textual Optimization Putting the Right Keywords in the Right Places In the mid to late 90 s, people achieved excellent search engine rankings by stuffing all their top keywords into the metatags of each page. Search engine algorithms got wise to this technique and rendered it ineffective. Webmasters then tried creating pages that contained unnatural keyword densities for all their targeted keywords. The search engines got wise to that technique, too. Today, search engines are rewarding natural-sounding language and are cracking down severely on attempts to game the system. When performing SEO, you must realize that the optimized text needs to read well for both the search engines and for prospective customers. Text that ranks well but reads poorly won t drive sales. So, if you can t work all the targeted keywords naturally into the text, don t force them in if it will diminish the quality of the writing. It s a sign of successful SEO when only SEO professionals can tell that the page has been optimized. In Fig. 4, you ll find website copy from the aforementioned sample company, Consultative Inc. This isn t actual web copy but is being employed to show the application of basic SEO techniques. The demonstrated methods are applicable to any material published online. Keywords Present in the Original Text (in orange) Lead Generation (2), Telesales (2), Lead (1 Lead Development ) Fig. 4 - Sample Web Copy with Highlighted Keywords (Before SEO) Opening Doors to Opportunity strategy, process and people. We then Are your company s sales below your expectations? review your company s current success rate Does your Sales Department need an infusion of and process, offering an analysis of your new opportunities? Are your salespeople working existing pipeline and a projection of where on active deals but not filling the pipeline with it needs to be in order to accomplish your future business? Are you entering a new market or objectives. We use that assessment to launching a new product, and need to gain rapid develop and execute an integrated lead entry into target accounts? generation/telesales program that closes the business you need. Consultative Inc. builds and deploys lead generation and telesales teams that can double even triple Strategy the number of prospects in your company s pipeline Our approach draws from years of and close sales quickly. Our proven approach has experience in planning and executing allowed us to successfully turn up the volume successful pipeline development programs of sales opportunities for a wide variety of B2B and campaigns. We focus on all of the companies, putting them on the path to sales essential process elements, such as acceleration. targeting, message, approach, call flow, qualification criteria and list acquisition. A Roadmap For Success The output is a detailed document that We start by assessing all aspects of your current becomes the foundation for building a lead development and sales models, including your successful program.

4 4 of 8 Step 2: Textual Optimization (cont) Applying Keywords Drawing from Fig. 4 on the previous page, the content below has been optimized for the search engines Fig. 5 - Optimized Web Copy Opening Doors to Opportunity Are your company s sales below your expectations? Does your Sales Department need an infusion of new opportunities leads? Are your salespeople working on active deals but not filling the pipeline with future business? Are you entering a new market or launching a new product, and need to gain rapid entry into generate new target accounts? Consultative Inc. builds and deploys lead generation and telesales teams that can double even triple the number of prospects in your company s pipeline and close sales quickly. Our proven approach has allowed us to successfully turn up the volume of sales opportunities for a wide variety of B2B companies, putting them on the path to sales acceleration. A Roadmap For Success We start by assessing all aspects of your current lead development and sales models, including your strategy, process and people. We then review your company s current success rate and process, offering an analysis of your existing pipeline and a projection of where it needs to be in order to accomplish your objectives. We use that assessment to develop and execute an integrated system for lead generation/telesales program that closes the business you need. Strategy Our approach draws from years of experience in planning and executing successful pipeline development programs and teleselling campaigns. We focus on all of the essential process elements, such as targeting, message, approach, telemarketing call flow, qualification criteria and list acquisition. The output is a detailed document that becomes the foundation for building a successful sales lead generation program. A good general rule to follow is this: If you can naturally work multiple variations of your targeted keywords into the text, SEO is enhanced. Since Generation is an important keyword, it behooves you to include Generate, Generated, Generating etc., if possible, so long as it can be done naturally. Without too much difficulty, you can assimilate almost all the targeted keywords into the text without altering the flow and feel of the language. This page is now optimized for potential search engine success. However, textual optimization is only one facet of SEO. Building inbound links to your website is another crucial element. Additional Keywords Removed Original Keywords

5 5 of 8 Step 3: Linkbuilding What Works Now If you are serious about achieving search engine success, you need to consistently and methodically build relevant links into your website. With all the options available for acquiring targeted links, there are no excuses not to embark upon link-building. How To Generate Inbound Links To Your Website Link-building used to be a difficult task. It isn t anymore. The novice SEO / webmaster can generate inbound links with relative ease. Link-trading platforms exist throughout the Internet here are a few that we recommend: Linkmarket.net: The 800 Pound Gorilla of link-trading platforms. At Linkmarket, there are over 36,000 potential link-trading partners, making the task of trading links as easy as clicking your mouse and copying and pasting code. With Linkmarket, anyone who puts forth the effort can generate many hundreds of targeted inbound links to a website. Link2me.com: A new site that is attempting to improve upon the Linkmarket trading platform and has some nice additional features that Linkmarket lacks. While this is still not a huge hub for link activity, it will likely grow quickly and be successful in the near future. Monsterlinkswap.com: Another new platform that is growing rapidly. This platform isn t as user-friendly as those of Linkmarket or Link2me however, it s still a good website for attaining a lot of links without a tremendous amount of effort. Many executives feel that links pages conflict with their website messaging, and this certainly can be a valid concern. However, there isn t any requirement that these pages be prominently featured on your website. It is perfectly OK to place a small link to your links page(s) next to your Copyright notice at the bottom of your home page. Your prospects will not notice it but the search engines will. Cautions: Google Page Rank 0: If you are doing link-trading, a Google toolbar is an essential resource. When evaluating a potential link partner for a trade, make sure to examine the Page Rank (PR) of the website you are considering to link to. While PR is far less meaningful than it used to be, you still need to follow this rule of safety: Do not trade links with websites that have a PR of 0 because too many of these sites have been penalized by Google. Reciprocating links with a PR0 site might subject you to a search engine penalty. Not all Page Rank 0 websites are unsafe link partners, however. Some of the sites are brand new and have yet to attain a Google PR. However, unless you have personal knowledge that the site hasn t been penalized, it isn t worth the risk trading links with the site until it attains a Page Rank above zero. Automatic Link Platforms: Some link-trading platforms advertise that they can give you hundreds or thousands of inbound links quickly and easily. All you have to do is create a new page on your website and place some code on it that they provide for you. Such linking strategies can be hazardous to your website s health because you are likely to be participating in a large group of sites that are all linking to each other. The search engines consider such platforms link farms and ultimately, the participants will get penalized. Now, some of these platforms have a few controls built into them and expert link-traders can work these systems in a way that minimizes (but doesn t eliminate) the risk inherent in participation. However, you shouldn t use such a strategy for any website that you couldn t afford to lose certainly, not your principal business website.

6 6 of 8 Step 3: Linkbuilding (cont) More Winning Strategies Link Text: Make The Right Choices Link text is the text contained in the hyperlink that connects back to your website. If you are building links to your website for search engine optimization (as opposed to branding), you don t want your link text to be the name of your company (because you re likely to be ranked well for your company name even without SEO). Instead, you want your link text to contain the top keywords that you are trying to rank well for. Continuing our former example: Consultative Inc. is a bad choice for link text. Because, as mentioned above, a company will generally rank well for its name all on its own. Lead Generation, Sales & Marketing Consultants is an ideal choice for link text since it focuses on keywords that Consultative Inc. is targeting with its own SEO efforts. engines, but allows you to give an added boost to more of your keywords, delivering better SEO results. Another Excellent Link-Building Strategy Has your PR Department or agency created businessthemed articles for placement in trade publications? Use your previous writings to generate links (and targeted traffic) to your website. Websites such as and articlecity.com exist to allow your company to place articles into the public domain. Webmasters come to these sites for free content and when your submission is selected, your site receives inbound links that assist your SEO efforts. A well-written article can easily generate hundreds of inbound links. So if your company has produced a lot of content over time, put it to work for your SEO efforts. With all the options available for acquiring targeted links, there are no excuses not to embark upon link-building. It is also very important to vary your link text on a regular basis. If all your links have the same link text (that isn t your company name), the search engines may view it as an unnatural linking pattern and penalize you accordingly. Change link text frequently -- it not only makes your linking pattern look more natural to search

7 7 of 8 Step 4: Web Analytics For Those Serious About SEO & Conversion If you ve achieved top natural search rankings for your key terms, awesome! However, you ve only completed the first phase of the online lead generation process. Now your website needs to convert visitors into sales leads. To optimize for website conversion, you need to have an advanced website analytics package in place. Basic stats software that typically comes with web hosting packages provides you with a small amount of data and is inexpensive, but is almost useless for measuring conversion. This software might tell you how many visitors you ve received and from where they came. But, you will not be able to glean enough information to make the right choices to effectively increase your online lead generation. Using conversion data to continuously optimize offers on your website should be the focus of your activity. To optimize for lead conversion, you need the following information: 1) Top keyword strings & search engine referrers As you examine your top keyword strings, focus on the words that aren t showing up in your lists, but should be. If you ve optimized for these terms and they aren t showing up in your statistics, perhaps you should make another SEO attempt. 2) Click Path Analysis A website optimized for conversion should have defined conversion paths. With advanced web analytics, you can determine what percentage of visitors are staying on the path to conversion and what percentage are falling off. You can also determine if conversion paths are too long or too difficult to follow. If they are, a navigation change is in order. 3) Micro-segmentation of traffic Visitors with different characteristics exhibit different site behaviors. With advanced analytics, you should have the ability to easily segregate visitors by: a. Search engine / referral source b. Keyword string used c. Natural search vs. paid search d. Geography e. Time of day f. Any other segmentation that is relevant to your market. g. Any combination of 2 or more of the above. 4) Percentage of short visits This is an extremely useful tool of measurement. If visitors come to your website, stay on the home page, and leave within five seconds, it means that they quickly realized they weren t going to find what they were looking for. A high percentage of such visitors might signify that your website could have any or all of the following problems: a. Poor keyword selection b. Poor messaging or graphics appeal c. Poor site navigation d. Bad code e. Web hosting problems If you have a high percentage of short visits, you may be receiving an excellent volume of traffic but you aren t likely generating enough leads. With advanced web analytics, at least you can be aware of the problem and know you need to take corrective action.

8 8 of 8 Generating Sales Leads Online A Must in Today s Competitive Business Environment Conclusion The rules of marketing have changed, as buyers have shifted their behavior toward using online search as a core strategy for vendor identification and selection. Even if your company is not selling its products through e-commerce, generating sales leads online is a must in today s hyper-competitive markets. The good news is that even small companies can gain disproportionately high online visibility, if they are willing to invest in SEO. The basics of search engine optimization aren t particularly complex, and can be mastered by virtually anyone. If you follow the above principles, you will see a dramatic increase in your website s traffic over time, and your company s ability to generate sales leads. About Cube Management Cube Management provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to deliver winning results. Looking for outside help to improve your company s online visibility and generate sales leads for your company? Outsourcing your SEO and Pay-Per-Click campaign management is simple and cost effective. For more information, visit our website at or call to speak with one of our team members.

9 Visit us at Rise to the Top A Four Step Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 2006 Cube Management, LLC. All rights reserved. Cube Management 5555 N Channel Ave Bldg 10, Suite B Portland OR, p. (503) f. (503)