The importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is of such regard that the topic barely registers consideration. Unless your company has been under a rock for the last decade and change, the methods and manners by which consumers (both direct and tangential) utilize the internet to meet their needs have been among your agenda’s top priorities. What, after all, is more vital a consideration than whether or not your potential customers can find you quickly and easily? And let’s be clear: Easy is important; it’s common knowledge that most consumers decide amongst the returns in the first few pages of their search results. So, the issue stands: How can your company maximize their web ranking?
A few finer points
Several questions jostle for your prompt attention when discussing SEO:
- How many unique users are coming to your website?
- Is your content (blogs and articles) the right length (neither too long nor too short)?
- What is your bounce rate?
- Are your industry-partners generating traffic for you and vice-versa?
- What is your user experience like?
What to shoot for
Become a brand-dominator: You need to have a powerful presence in your niche and be recognized as a local leader in your industry. The key word here is ‘local’, because local business is often a company’s strongest foundation.
A huge factor is how much time visitors spend on your website; as such, you need a website that engages! Your website should be interactive, informative, and personal; speaking directly to your customer’s needs and lifestyle.
Don’t pretend. If you (or the CEO of your company) haven’t offered much investment in the people of a given community, don’t pretend to. It’s obvious and haphazard, at best.
In the end
So, what do we do with all of this information? We use it to not only achieve a better position, but we keep it. The following practices will keep your website on top of the game and foster both business and community engagement:
Backlink: Backlinking is great because it represents an ongoing relationship between your company and others, not even necessarily in the same industry, but always in the wider business community. You give someone the spotlight and accolades, and most often they’re happy to return the favor.
Interviews, Spotlights, and Guest Posts: All of these directly engage with your community. Atop that, you’re going to be generating a lot of secondary traffic from those individuals’ followers who want to promote what they’ve had to say. Interviews especially, lend you the opportunity to reach out and engage the top leaders in any given niche, and as the interviewing party, your authority and recognition is boosted by proxy alone, to say nothing of content.
In the end, we all have to bow to the fact that upwards of 80 percent of internet search traffic is generated by Google alone. To ignore such a massive, driving force would be tantamount to putting your head (and corporate portfolio) in the sand. You don’t have to be an expert (although it never hurts to hire one), but even knowing the basics about SEO can do wonders for your company’s returns.
Stewart, Cooper & Coon, has helped thousands of decision makers and senior executives move up in their careers and achieve significantly improved financial packages within short time frames. Contact Fred Coon – 866-883-4200, Ext. 200