If a potential customer doesn’t know your exact web site address, how are they going to find your business on the web? Chances are, if your site isn’t optimized for the search engines, the customers will find your competitor’s web site rather than yours. Did you know that only 32% of Internet users will read to the bottom of the first page of results when performing a search? (iProspect) Only 23% of searchers go to the bottom of the second page of search results, and the numbers drop for every page thereafter. And as technology changes, getting listed on the first page of results will only become more important as searches will be possible in places like your television, phone and music players.

Search engine optimization is not for the faint of heart, as the tactics to get listed on the first page of results seem to require an understanding of a whole new language, but by understanding a few basic components of search engine optimization and with a strategic Internet marketing partner like corecubed, you can be well on your way to staying ahead of the competition and getting higher rankings in search engines.

Search Engine Optimization

The basic premise of search engine optimization is to construct your web pages in such a way that it is very clear to searchers what the pages are about and easy to navigate through the site. This will also make the search engines easily understand what is on your site, resulting in high rankings, or in other words, a listing further up to the top of a search results page.

1. Key Words: A web site optimization campaign should begin with determining the best key words for your site. Consider the search behavior of your target audience. What key words and phrases would they query in search engines to find the products or services you offer? Key words are tantamount to key messages in your strategic marketing plan. You simply HAVE to know what words people use when they are looking for your product or service.Once your key words are chosen, they are used in the navigation of your site, in cross links, as meta tags, description tags, alt tags and most importantly, in your web site content. Without content written ‘rich’ in key words, your optimization results will be much lower. Many businesses use designers for their web sites that do not understand how to design to be found on the web, and although those designs look great, it won’t help customers find you at all.
2. Analyze the competition: The next step should be to analyze your competitors’ web sites. Competitive research gives you an edge by providing a sneak peek into which search engines drive traffic, which search terms produce the best results, and where there may be missed opportunities.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Pay-per-click advertising will place you temporarily near the top of a search results page. When someone searches for one of your chosen key words, your ad will show up. Every time an online searcher clicks on your ad to get to your web site, you are charged for your chosen key words (most popular words are most expensive). You can limit the cost per day or the cost per click and thus control the expense. The most reputable PPC campaigns at this time are Google and Yahoo/Overture.

Utilizing a PPC campaign as a ‘focus group’ to decide on what key words or search terms your customers use to find you is a great trick to jump start an optimization campaign. It is very important to closely monitor your pay-per-click advertising in order to learn which search terms are most effective, bringing not just visitors, but paying customers to your web site.

An Internet marketer skilled in pay-per-click advertising can create campaigns for various products or services, measure their success and drive customers in droves to your web site for a fraction of the cost of other more traditional forms of advertising. You can use this knowledge to edit and optimize your web site and increase your natural rankings.

Natural Optimization

Many businesses spend a fortune on pay-per-click advertising, but the real goldmine is getting a high natural (or unpaid) search ranking. Natural search engine listings are a result of a search engine returning web pages that relate to a user’s query. Search engines, such as Google, use a constantly changing complex ranking algorithm to go through web sites and determine their relevancy to specific search queries. The more relevant the site’s content to a specific query, the higher that site will rank within the search engine results.

Natural search engine optimization is no easy task and is a continual process rather than a one time project. You need real expertise to get a high natural ranking. An expert in search engine optimization, like the experts at corecubed, will develop a strategy that can help increase your natural rankings, thus delivering more highly relevant customers to your web site.

Back Links

It is important to establish relevant links back to your web site for natural optimization to occur. This will indicate to the search engines that your web site is highly relevant, which will result in a higher listing on the search engine results pages.

Are You Taking Advantage of the Internet?

The Internet is rapidly changing, with competition increasing daily. In order to thrive in this marketplace it is critical to use search engine optimization and industry leading marketing tools. And if you build a web site that provides the information your customers want, then you are more likely to attract users who will explore your services and/or purchase your products online and recommend your site to a friend.

Optimization takes time and know-how. Simply building a list of meta tags and then submitting your web site to a variety of search engines won’t cut it in the world of Internet marketing. It is a science and an art to understand a business’ targeted customers, to find ways to get them to come visit the web site and to keep them there and have them exhibit the behavior while there that you want.

corecubed uses seasoned Internet marketing professionals that know how to create an online marketing campaign that meets your business objectives and marketing budget. We can recommend key words and monitor their effectiveness, assist with setting up and monitoring pay-per-click campaigns and help with your natural search engine rankings.

Our capabilities range from strategic planning to full implementation of marketing and public relations plans, including total design across all media. We can fulfill all of your communication needs.