It’s actually quite easy BUT keep in mind SEO is not a specific, single channel.
You will NOT get there by URLs, keywords, and links alone.
Google is looking for high quality results for their users and there are an increasing number of metrics used to determine that you are delivering as much. The thought that led you here, that you think you can focus on SEO, scares me – did someone tell you that??
What you want to develop is an organization (or culture if you don’t really have a company of many employees) that fosters great organic search results. What you need to invest in are designs, content, and technology.
Consider the variety of things you should be doing to rank well
- An exceptional theme or design to provide a world class user experience and motivates sharing and social marketing
- Certainly, provide contextually relevant keywords in the URLs
- Make sure you practice the SEO fundamentals and architect your site properly. Know that eCommerce platforms for sites, for example, are notoriously poorly optimized which is WHY store owners generally struggle so much with organic growth
- Add social media engagement opportunities to pages to pretty seamlessly integrate social marketing with your content
- Consider some sort of welcome message or custom page design based on demographic, behavior, and user type. Speak to the customer in a voice that meets their unique expectations
- Create UNIQUE and compelling content: contests, reviews, controversy, etc. Product pages, generally, aren’t unique so Google has no reason to favor you over the dozens of other stores that sell similar product – no matter how good your SEO
- Run a blog. See my previous point.[
SEO is also about what you’re doing off site to foster those searches for your brand, social marketing, and clicks on search results where you appear.
- Paid search marketing is the first place to turn: It’s performance based, relevant, and limited to your expectations so it won’t break the bank but most/more importantly, being in paid search drives organic clicks
- Clean up your email marketing and newsletters to keep great customers engaged and win referrals. Plug in MailChimp or something to clean up your distribution of content to reader and encourage sharing. Use one of the cool social profiling technologies to identify your most influential and engaged customers – then turn to them for support.
- Spend time with your Affiliate marketing program and leverage that to find the bloggers and sites that support you best. Engage them with creative ways to promote your business, build links, and drive awareness.
Still lost or struggling? This is what we do. Chat with me about how we can help.
Don’t want visitors. Want buyers.
Designs, Content & Tech indeed
My old school instincts tell me it’s all about:
• product
• experience
• self expression
At least in the media box
Provide path 4 Creators 2 make ? off of doing what they love
Design = virally engineered
Content = Beings
Tech = AI Authoring
Keep going, cause AI isn’t JUST about how we work or collaborate
AI is the new guitar, mic or MIDI rig
AI is what the Digital Natives will use, just as DJs figured out how to scratch or sample
Instigate is just the 1st of a whole new gen of creativity tools that blends media
Very interesting article! Sending it to my IT department
Nice post, but how does paid search drive organic clicks?
We studied that quite a but at HP. Paid search is advertising like any other. Very few people, at least in that industry, make impulse purchases; they don’t search once and buy. People search, research, search, compare, go to a store and try things, talk to friends, see an ad, search some more, and finally buy. Paid search results are NOT, rather, should not, be measured on a one to one basis; all of those early searches led to later searches and influenced the purchase.
To answer your question more directly, paid search results drive awareness and consideration which leads to more searches. Which = more organic search traffic.
Oh I see what you are saying. So basically some ads work to bring awareness that later might lead to a visitor searching organically.
Quora and Twitter have been great traffic channels for me too
Need to do a follow up piece because I’ll be frank, I can’t place my finger on Quora. I have some answers with hundreds of thousands, others I think are best and no one cares Face with tears of joy
LoL yeah it’s the same case with me