NorCal Web Marketing

Posts Tagged ‘seo firm’

SEO can be a powerful element of almost any company’s online marketing plan. Many companies, however, view it with skepticism due to either misinformation or having worked with a less than ethical SEO firm in the past. With the internet becoming an increasingly important marketplace for both goods and information, it’s important that companies educate themselves on how work with an ethical internet marketing company can help them grow their business.

A significant contributor to the skepticism surrounding SEO is the belief that search engine optimization ends with achieving high search engine rankings for targeted keywords. This, however, is merely a means to an end. The ultimate goal of any intelligent search engine strategy should be to improve traffic to a website and to convert this traffic into paying business. For this to occur, it’s important to understand what keyword phrases are used by people who are researching or interested in buying the products and services your company sells.

That is why the value of intelligent keyword research should not be underestimated when beginning an SEO campaign. Before you begin your on-page and off-page optimization efforts, you should thoroughly research which keyword phrases it makes sense to rank for. To do this, you should look at the intent of searchers using certain keywords, keyword volumes, search trends, and keyword commercial value. Developing a strong understanding of the keyword space you’re targeting will enable you to most effectively target phrases that will improve both traffic and conversions.

Once you’ve finished researching your target keywords, any comprehensive SEO strategy must incorporate 3 elements: a) Onsite code, tags, and structure optimization; b) Relevant, unique content creation; c) quality link development. You can find all kinds of expert advice, secret tips, and lengthy books out there on SEO, but when all is said and done, pretty much every SEO practice fits into 1 of these 3 categories. If your SEO strategy doesn’t involve all 3 of these elements in a cohesive fashion, your results will fall short of expectations.

With all of the misinformation floating around about SEO, some companies choose to put their online marketing budgets toward PPC. PPC can definitely be useful, but in most cases, SEO will yield a better long-term return. The reason why is because working with a quality seo firm enables you to construct an online asset that will lead to traffic and conversions long after your initial SEO campaign is finished. While renting may require less of a financial and time investment initially, owning a home gives you an asset that with proper upkeep will appreciate as time goes by. It’s important to keep in mind that like all property, online assets necessitate ongoing maintenance to prevent deterioration. An apt comparison is the difference between renting and buying a house.

With the social media platforms that arose out of the Web 2.0 movement now ubiquitous, finding a way to include social media marketing in your online strategy will strengthen your SEO efforts. Social media marketing can seem daunting at first, and some companies are weary of spending too much time writing blog posts, staying active on Twitter, developing Facebook pages, etc. While social media campaigns can certainly be extensive, you can begin with something as simple as a blog where you post company announcements or answer customer questions several times a month. Social media’s power is in its ability to enable brand building, strengthen customer relationships, and follow what people are saying about you online. Like SEO, it’s important that you develop a cohesive strategy when creating your social media campaign.

Highly Relevant is a Los Angeles SEO firm specializing in search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online reputation management with a focus on delivering tangible, trackable results.

- Rex Freiberger