We've all seen it happen. Company websites that are developed at great expense, then due to insufficient promotion and poor quality SEO, they languish, providing no added benefit. If you're not on the first page of results for your chosen keywords, you're unlikely to receive any traffic from this source. Although SEO is only one cog in the wheel of a website's success, it is a vital tool that must be planned, managed and regularly maintained to achieve high organic placement on search engine result pages. These are just some of the elements that should be considered when developing your SEO strategy: Keywords Companies often make the mistake of using only jargon or industry terminology when devising their keywords. Remember that it's what your visitors will search for that counts, and that's not necessarily what you think it will be. Research is key - find out what your visitors are looking for and make sure your keywords reflect this. Your log files will be useful in determining the most commonly searched for terms. Also ensure that your keywords are incorporated into your page titling, headings and within the body content of each page. Search engines will want to see that the content displayed in the page is reflective of the titles and headings. Have a look at what your competitors are doing, especially those that are achieving top 5 organic ranking on the search engines. This will give you a good starting point to surpass what they are doing. Link Building Most search engines rate a site depending on how many other sources are linking to it. The value of the link is dependent on the quality of the source that is linking to you, but all are recorded and relevant to a degree. It is presumed that if your site has a lot of incoming external links that you are providing relevant, good quality content. Visitors are coming to your site for information - give it to them. The more respected you become within your field, the more links you will build from trusted sources. If you're launching a new site, a pay-per-click campaign will go a long way to establishing brand awareness and generating traffic. It is not always a viable long-term solution, but it's certainly a useful method of achieving initial results that will build your SEO strategy in the future. Directories, RSS & Social Bookmarking This is a standard procedure that should be included in your website development. Submission to free directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo! are a good start but don't underestimate the importance of paid directories that are relevant to your industry. Whether the directory is free or paid for, ensure that it is a quality source. Your local Chamber of Commerce, city resources and Wikipedia are also good sources for easy, quality linking. Submit your quality content links to Digg and Del.icio.us. If they're listed and popular it will generate lots of traffic to your site. RSS directories are similar to web directories, but contain collections of RSS feeds, instead of links to web sites. Viral Marketing & Content Provision If you're generating good quality content, utilise it. There are a plethora of news, industry and information sites that are constantly looking for data. If you can syndicate your content to them, ensuring they provide a link to your site in return, you are easily generating constant, quality awareness of your brand and your expertise. Don't try and make a silk purse out of a sows ear. If you're not providing useful, relevant content, don't expect to achieve a high ranking. Write original content and make sure it's accurate. Make it interesting and valuable to your visitors. Blog It Start to blog and make it a 'must visit' resource for your visitors. Not only will it encourage you to keep an eye on what's going on, but you'll soon find that others will take notice. If the articles are interesting you'll begin to get referenced, establishing a following and generating links to your site. Don't Rush SEO takes time. Don't expect instant results and know that there's no finite timeframe. You'll need to constantly adapt your strategy and content based on visitor requirements. You'll also need to stay abreast of industry developments and share them with your customers. If you follow the rules, you'll gain ground and should achieve the ranking you deserve. To request a meeting to further discuss your SEO requirements, contact us here.