eMarketing Blog

By: Doug Anderson
E-mail: doug@webpagefx.com

Website: www.webpagefx.com

 

You may ask: “What is SEO and why does my business need it?” If you’re unfamiliar with SEO—or search engine optimization—here’s a brief overview:

 

It isn’t magic  
 

 SEO isn’t some hocus-pocus method that magically increases traffic and places your website at the top of Google search engine results pages (SERPs) instantly. Quite the opposite, actually: SEO is challenging work and it takes time, but the benefits are outstanding.

SEO is about enhancing your online presence by making your website rank better in the SERPs for certain keywords and phrases with both on-page and off-page optimization tactics. This includes creating unique keyword-rich copy and Meta data as well as making your website “crawler” friendly. SEO also includes building links that point to your site from other sites (off-page optimization). Google loves (most) links! Optimizing your own website (on-page optimization) is not enough—these links are vital to the entire process. Think of these links as a ‘vote’ for your site; if another site trusts you enough to link to you, why wouldn’t Google trust you too?

When you have an effective SEO strategy in place, users searching for your selected keywords are much more likely to find you; your site will appear much higher up on the page results compared to if no optimization had occurred at all.

It’s About Getting Quality, Relevant Traffic.

In other words, SEO is all about driving the exact type of traffic you need to your website: your target market. It’s all about helping businesses become more visible to their customers and helping their target customers find exactly what they’re searching for. You’re meeting customers looking for your products and services exactly where they’re at; it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

Think about how you search. Just like you, your customers tend to click on the first few results or at least in the first few pages of the search results; beyond the first three pages the traffic is significantly low. So, you can imagine that if your website is sitting in the top 10 or 20 search results, you’ll be getting a lot more traffic to your website—I think it goes without mentioning that’s a great thing in generating sales leads.

Why You Need It.

If your business is mostly supported by its web presence, you need SEO, especially if you’re a new business. Without SEO, your business is basically invisible to the millions of users using search engines for information, resulting in little to no leads or sales for you.

Just think how SEO works—and then think about your competitors. There’s a good chance that they too are optimizing their own site for search engines. The hard (and literal) truth is: if your competitors are optimizing and you are not, your site will be “buried alive” by the competition. In essence then, SEO is necessary to remain visible to your customer base and remain competitive.

Every web-based business owner needs to do at least some SEO work—but going above and beyond and remaining on top of SEO trends is vital to becoming a truly powerful website.

WebpageFX, Inc. is an Internet marketing and web development company specializing in SEO Pricing and Internet marketing services.

 

 

By: Samantha Sherwin

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Relevancy, Relevancy, Relevancy.

Is what was stuck in my head after leaving the SEM III: “Findability” Search Marketing Seminar on April 13, 2011. Neal Rabogliatti, senior e-strategist Consultant at Catalyst Connection in Pittsburgh talked about various strategies companies could use to make themselves more “findable” in search engines.
Whether your company is a B2B or a B2C, the information can all be used the same. The main thing you want to keep in mind when you are writing content and optimizing for your website, uploading a video or updating your social networks is to make sure that everything is relevant! There’s that word, relevant. You want to be targeting the right people so focus on target keyword phrases.

Neal talked a lot about keyword phrases and how important they are. There are certain guidelines that should be followed as close as possible for when writing your content marketing. Just to name a few: the keyword phrase should be the densest phrase, bold your keyword at least once and check to see if your keyword has multiple meanings. It is important to check your keywords for multiple meanings. Why? Because you may be sending potential consumers to somebody else’s page who could be in a different business but still use the same keywords as you. You may also be getting unwanted traffic to your webpage from people who are looking for that other business.

To help with optimizing your webpage visit the eMarketing Learning Center’s website and take a look at the different tools that Neal has suggested. There are tools to help you analyze your SEO and find the right keywords for you. Remember to always keep optimizing!

If you have not attended any of the eMarketing Learning Center classes/seminars or have never listened to Neal speak about Search Engine Optimization, I highly encourage you to do so. Whether you are just beginning in the world of Digital Marketing and SEO or are already experienced, there is something for everyone.

Don’t just take my word for it, read some comments below about what people had to say about the SEM III: “Findability” Search Marketing Seminar.

“Informative, helpful hints, anyone can use for marketing online effectively.”

“Speaker was very knowledgeable and clear. Good mix of technical/non-technical concepts.”

“I can’t wait to get back to work to apply what I have learned today.”

“Got me up to speed on the newer developments with SEO.  Put it into easily understandable format and showed how I can make it work for my organization.”

Being a recent college graduate, I really enjoyed the seminar and took away a lot of information that will help me in my future endeavors within Digital Marketing. Neal was an excellent speaker, when he talks about SEO and Digital Marketing you can see his passion for it and that’s what makes a speaker great. 

McInnes Rolled Rings is an excellent example of a manufacturer using an integrated media marketing approach.  Their primary goal is to get the product in the hands of the customer as quickly as possible.  The combination of an optimized website and other e-marketing techniques has enabled their reach into global markets.  Improved timely delivery of their product and has pushed this company way above its competitors.

Profile

McInnes Rolled Rings located in Erie, PA, supplies seamless rolled rings in carbon, alloy and stainless steel ranging from 4” to 72” to industrial Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers in North America, Europe and the Middle East.  Markets served are power generation (steam, gas and wind turbines), mining, gas and oil, off road transmissions, marine, aerospace and general fabrications.  McInnes has been in business since 1992.  Their web address is www.mcinnessrolledrings.com.

 

Role of Digital Marketing

Ten years ago before e-marketing, McInnes relied mostly on sales brochures accompanied by sell sheets they gave to outside sales representatives to spread the word about their business.  It was a one dimensional marketing approach that depended solely on representatives to generate leads and inquiries.  Today, McInnes attracts 90% of new customers via the Internet.  They use targeted mailings, search engine marketing (SEM) and primarily focusing on search engine optimization (SEO), in addition to the sales representatives to drive potential customers to their website.  Their goal is to generate opportunities to quote new items.  They believe in trying new approaches to see what works.

The Web and Speed

McInnes’ message often comes back to the same key point - speed.  How fast can the product be in the hand of the customer?  While McInnes uses an external hosting company to maintain their website, all content is produced and updated by an in-house marketing team.  Graphical changes are designed in house, but made by the hosting company.  The marketing team is responsible for all company marketing materials, including website graphics, mailings and any marketing materials, which they have found to be a quicker, more efficient and cost effective method than outsourcing the work to an external company.  McInnes’ website is updated daily with current delivery times being offered.  It features a graphical flash calculator, telling what current delivery times are.  This is just one more way McInnes emphasizes their company value of a timely delivery.

The website is considered to be dynamic to show the flexibility and responsiveness McInnes has in their industry.  News articles are added monthly to demonstrate what is going on at their company and in the industry as a whole.  They see their website as a reflection of their sales team. 
The online inquiry transition to a sale comes back to speed.  The goal at McInnes is to respond to each and every inquiry the same day, within 4-8 hours.  They believe every customer wants a fast and accurate answer and strive to meet those demands. The McInnes website helps support that their position on speed and the customer.
SEO is a major component of McInnes’ marketing strategy.  They feel that this is one area that needs constant monitoring and adjustments.  They use Google Analytics is used to track their website in search resultls, keyword usage, visitors and the pages they visted to help them make changes, and feel that it is only valuable if managed correctly.  SEM efforts are tracked weekly, if not daily.
McInnes has a short video on their website, but does not utilize any other multimedia technologies at this time.   While e-marketing plays a vital role in the success of the overall marketing campaign, past marketing techniques can’t be ignored.  Many inquiries still come via phone and fax, so it is important not to completely shut out old technologies.  Sales and a strong customer base prove that all marketing efforts are paying off.  Without a combination of marketing techniques, McInnes feels they would not be nearly as successful as they are.

Challenges and Lessons

• SEM and web analytics need to be monitored constantly and adjusted accordingly.  
• While it is important to incorporate new technologies and e-marketing trends into their marketing, it is important not to forget basic marketing tools. 
• E-marketing is about trial in error – new ideas have to be implemented to see what works and what doesn’t.
• There is less risk when trying new things online.  Adjustments can easily be made with very little cost.