Buzz Building Series - Issue 7: Search Engine Optimisation and it’s part in your strategy

Hi There,

Welcome to issue 7 of the buzz building series in which we talk about the "Mystical Power" that is Search Engine Optimisation (or "SEO"), and how it can support your buzz building program.

SEO, and attempts to master it, has been around as long as Search Engines, and it's an area that tends to lead to confusion, poor decisions, and sometimes (sadly) lots of wasted money. In this issue, we talk about SEO from both the technical and commercial perspectives, and bust open some of the myths...

Rick says...

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)is the term used to describe the work you do ON and OFF your website, to ensure that Search Engines can find your website for the keywords relevant to your business.

In the past SEO work tended to be performed by VERY highly paid "SEO Consultants" that, depending on their morals, used either White Hat (Ethical, sustainable practices) or Black Hat (Naughty, automated, SPAM-like methods).

The biggest Search Engine in the World, Google, has over the years become very wise to all the methods used and has worked hard to change their algorythms to ensure that searchers get the most relevant, AUTHENTIC, content and that those using Black Hat methods are penalised and their content relegated in the results.

This is all great news for you as you embark upon your buzz building program, because you are going to be doing nothing but produce relevant, authentic, content - and Google will love you for it.

Here are some of the most important checks to make for the SEO of your website and your content...

> Submissions. Search Engine Submissions & Google Webmaster submission. Ensure that a solid plan is in place submit the website or web application to Search Engine Submission sites and Major Search Engines.

> Analytics. Make sure an owner and a plan is in place for the continual monitoring of Google Analytics for problems, popular pages etc.

> SERP Formatting / SEO Plugin Settings. Ensure you have checked and optimised/adjusted the formatting of site results in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

> XML Sitemaps. You must make sure you have created and submit an XML sitemap and submitted it to Google Webmaster for this site.

> Directory Submissions. It's important to have submitted the website to directories to create back links to the site, and increase it's Page Rank (DMoz, Yahoo, BOTW etc)

> Meta Data. You have ensured that Meta Page Titles make sense and contain relevant Key Words or Terms

> Authorship. You have configured your blog to draw Authorship from your Google Plus Profile.

We here at Buzz Building HQ have a check-list of around 500 items to ensure optimal SEO of a blog - if you're interested to see that, get in touch!

Stay tuned for our next Issue (8), all about Email Marketing!

Don't forget to tell your friends...

 

Owen says...

Careful, this is when it can all get a bit techie…and if you’re mainly business minded like I am, it’s easy to skip or switch off from the acronyms and “meta thingy” etc. 
Don’t, this is the really important bit. You see without it, everything you produce in terms of well written and well researched content will be no more than a billboard in the desert. Unless you get this bit right you’ll have to rely on luck or a lot of campaigning to get people to read and act on your content and getting noticed will cost you a great deal more than it needs to.

The whole point of this Buzz Building approach is to help you understand how technology can do a great deal of the work for you. So sorry – you need to pay attention!

Search engines (Google etc.) are fundamentally based on meritocratic principles (bar the pay per click) i.e. its job is to return the searcher the most relevant and up to date content. So if yours is the most relevant and the most up to date then you’re on the right track.

Assuming who ever is going to look at the technical elements can follow what Rick’s proposing for you, the key from my perspective is then to work on understanding what key words and phrases you need to be focusing on and promoting.

You’ll probably already have some good ideas about what you want to be known for or the product or service you want to promote.

Bear in mind that the really obvious key words for your sector are going to be “optimised” by everyone and there will be a lot of competition out there with very deep pockets indeed happy to invest in making sure they’re more visible than anyone else. For example if you work in financial services, the term word “Loans” is going to be very hard for you to succeed with. Why? Because Banks and other lending organisations will invest the GDP of a small country on making sure they are “number 1” in Google and it’s hard to compete with that.

That shouldn’t put you off however.

I suggest that you list out all the key words you think are important for your industry or company.

Then think about the sorts of phrases people might use to search for them i.e. “paint for bathrooms”. You might also think about adding some geographical context in like “paint for bathrooms Milton Keynes”.

This is called a “long tail” search string and it’s how people really search, so think about which of those might best suit your business or your blog.

Google’s Ad Word tool is still useful for understanding the number of searches per month for a word or phrase. So I suggest that you use that.

Look out for the relevant words or phrases that have the highest number of searches but the lowest level of competition. These are where you should focus your efforts.

Of course then you need to ensure you use these phrases consistently in your blogs to build up your level of relevance and credibility.

 

3 things to do today to help with your SEO...

Submit your website to Google
Ensure all your page titles contain your top keyword(s)
Set up your website with Google Webmaster Tools

Don't forget, still to come in the buzz building series...

> Email Marketing to amplify your content and build your audience

> Analytics and Optimisation; understanding your impact

> Reporting and building a pipeline of interest

> Audience & content. How to write a buzz building strategy

> Buzz building and the resources required to sustain it

To discuss any aspect of the buzz building series, please call us at your convenience on 0203 1372 844.

Rick & Owen