Think Big Blog

The great debate continues in the world of online marketing. Why search engine optimization when I can just pay my money for pay per click and be exactly where I want to be when I want to be there? There’s nothing that can take away from the effectiveness of pay per click. There is no question that it is a very effective means of online marketing –a way to get your company name out there, brand your business, and be directly in front of the people you are trying to reach. The difference between search engine optimization and pay per click often comes down to simply a matter of preference. But it also comes down to perception.

Internet search engine users understand that the space at the top and to the right of their search engine results are referred to as sponsored links; they know that this is purchased ad space and they appreciate that. But this is not a perception that can be avoided because it’s the truth. So while your link may come up in response to their search query it does not mean that you came up because you are the best in that realm, or the most notable, or the most popular; it means that you paid to be there.

This is not say that sponsored ad space is bad – not at all; it just is what it is. Search engine optimization is the effort that is put into making sure a link comes up organically in response to a query and this is often perceived by the online community as more credible.

Ultimately the decision to choose search engine optimization or pay per click is one that only you can make. Work with a web site optimization firm that can help you determine the best course of action in accordance with your goals and your budget.

In the last post we talked about the importance of marketing for all businesses – traditional and otherwise. The online business community may be growing by leaps and bounds but there are many industries that have had a difficult time adjusting. For instance, bricks and mortar businesses have understood the importance of professional marketing guidance for some time. But web site owners are too often still trying to grasp how crucial marketing is to their online success. To make matters worse, the market is saturated by less than reputable companies that profess to be online marketing experts…and are anything but.

This may be enough to put many people completely off the process of looking for a web site optimization firm but it doesn’t mitigate the fact that such professional guidance is critical for success. But with a few ideas of what to look for you can begin the process of seeking the expert advice that will see your online presence growing by leaps and bounds:

• Experience, experience, experience. Experience may be an obvious thing to look for but people often fail to look beyond the few nice words a web site optimization firm throws their way to advertise their services. Not only should the firm in question have some time under their belt they should be well versed in a variety of services including pay per click and search engine optimization.

• Ability to do for themselves what they claim they can do for others. It wouldn’t make sense to choose a web site optimization firm to do for you what they can’t do for themselves. Look for a web site optimization firm that has managed to find success for itself through its own system.

• Word of mouth. The Internet is at your disposal when looking for expert advice. Use it to your advantage and look for a company that has good press and positive testimonials.

• Customized solutions. Marketing a web site is just like marketing a traditional company; not every path is the appropriate one for reaching a goal. Look for a web site optimization firm that looks to increase web site traffic through proven and customized solutions.

There are those marketing efforts that businesses do to garner speedy results in order to get them noticed. But it is the more comprehensive marketing plans that allow for more long term and sustainable results; those marketing plans that require commitment and consistency. For web sites, this kind of long term sustainable marketing plan includes search engine optimization.

Pay per click is a very effective marketing effort that consistently draws attention to a site - positioning a web site in a choice position on the search engine results pages. But search engine optimization can provide a longer term solution to sustainable marketing efforts by organically and highly positioning a site on the search engine rankings.

Of course achieving such a position and maintaining it means committing to a marketing plan that is in line with your company’s branding strategy and is best positioned to propel a site ahead of the competition.

When looking to the future for your web site it can have the most impact to work with a web site optimization firm to lead the way towards success. A web site optimization firm is charged with marketing a web site and they are consistently and completely focused on this effort. This is a huge bonus for companies that don’t have the resources for an in-house online marketing team. A web site optimization firm acts as an arm of a company – an off-site marketing team whose role it is to strategize a customized and affordable plan for marketing a web site to the top.

Shortsightedness will not deliver longstanding success online. Look to the future of your site by putting solid and consistent marketing plans into place and professionals in charge of the journey. A web site optimization firm can help deliver more web site traffic now and well into the future.

It is official – summer is here; and with it comes the inevitable slowing of most of the business world. That, of course, is something that historically happens no matter what the economy but in an economy such as what we are experiencing right now, this slowing has even more impact than ever. Why not make the most use of this time?

It can be difficult to focus on marketing efforts throughout the year. You do what you can to make sure that your business is promoted effectively but it cannot compete with the time it takes to actually run the business. Not surprisingly most people turn to professionals to take over the marketing reins so that they can focus on the business at hand. Web site marketing should be no exception.

Take the summer months to explore the potential that a web site optimization firm brings to the table. By making sure that professionals head up your marketing efforts you can rest assured that everything is being done to make sure that your site is promoted to the appropriate audience. This period of time can allow you to focus on such things as search engine optimization, pay per click, and other marketing vehicles that will better position your web site for success throughout the year.

Most importantly now is the time that you want to look for the web site optimization firm that will work best for your needs and help you grow your business through your web site. Look for a web site optimization firm that has a strong reputation in the marketplace and a distinctive plan for marketing your site. Within this general idea for a plan, however, should be flexibility for customization depending upon the state of the site and their ultimate goals for the short and long term.

Is comparing SEO and PPC like comparing apples and oranges? Not necessarily. But it is like comparing advertising and PR. In the online world pay per click (PPC) is similar to advertising – buying a particular position to help brand your company through a targeted message. It is fast, it is effective when done well, and consistency – in terms of position – is largely in your control. Search engine optimization (SEO) is similar to public relations in that it may take longer but through consistently applying “elbow grease” through your marketing efforts you can achieve results.

Is one better than the other? No. They are simply different. There are some web site owners that prefer the faster results of PPC and are comfortable advertising their site in the sponsored link section of the search engines – getting their name out there and drawing their customers through their consistent presence. Other web site owners prefer climbing the search engine rankings organically through search engine optimization because they feel as if it gives them more online credibility and potential visitors are more likely to respond to organic listings than they are sponsored listings.

But ultimately most companies will find that it is the thoughtful combination of both SEO and PPC that allows them to achieve the greatest results. It’s true that diversifying efforts in this manner can work wonders in terms of branding a company and getting them the conversion rates they seek online – even in a crowded and competitive online environment.

Look for a web site optimization firm that is knowledgeable and experienced in both SEO and PPC and can help you customize an optimization plan that works for your particular needs and budget. With consistent focus your efforts will pay off by working to raise your rankings and increase web traffic with potential new customers.

So you’ve designed and launched what most consider to be a pretty great web site. You’ve done all the research on how best to present your products and services to your intended audience and you have spent an inordinate amount of time designing a site that meets your needs and is in line with appropriate marketing. But when you’re all done – when the site is launched and you’re convinced that everything is perfect – you wonder where to go from here. How do you make sure that people even know that the site exists and they can find it; that they can find the products and services that you have made available to them?

This is the time that web site owners will invariably find themselves in need of a web site optimization firm so that the site is best poised to be found on the search engines and that the target audience is able to find the site amongst the online competition.

What is the role of a web site optimization firm? Essentially it is the role of such professionals to help focus the site – to identify the target audience, identify keywords that such a target audience will use to locate such a site, and to engage particular processes to allow such an audience to find what they need on the web site.

A reputable and experienced web site optimization firm, once they help identify keywords, will infuse those keywords into content found on the site and will also launch a strategic linking campaign that will ensure that relevant and highly ranked sites are linking to the client’s site.

All of this work – done consistently throughout a search engine optimization campaign – will help elevate the site’s rankings on the search engines. If a web site can be found on the search engines then the target audience – in search of products and services offered by the site – will be able to find the web site. This will, in turn, increase web site traffic and ultimately grow the business.

In the last post we talked about the importance of relationships with vendors to the modern business. Economic restrictions have made it that many businesses simply cannot handle all the details of their operations in-house and money – as well as efficiency – dictates that it is best to turn to the professionals outside the business.

Again, traditional businesses have long accepted this; having turned their marketing strategies over to marketing agencies for quite some time. They understand the value of having a separate team that is solely focused on marketing their company but to whom they do not have to pay full time salaries or additional benefits. Further, because this vendor is outside of the confines of the company that is charged with marketing, the team is not mired down in other corporate needs to which they could easily be pulled away. There is value for your dollar in a team of experts that is driven by one singular goal.

This is what online companies are coming to realize as well. There is value in turning to the professionals when it comes to marketing a web site. It is not often that a team within a company has the time or the resources to dedicate themselves exclusively to search engine optimization efforts and the branding of the company on the Internet. But this is exactly what is needed if long term success is to be within a company’s sights.

The web site optimization firm exists outside of the web site but is wholly focused on marketing that web site. The team of experts of such a firm will put marketing measures into place for a web site – whatever measures make sense – but, more than that, they will continually monitor and work these marketing efforts, giving companies a valuable “branch” to their corporate tree that can really grow their business.

There are many ways to market a company – many roads. But what these roads have in common is that they are all long. There are no short ways to achieve marketing success because as quickly as the success may come is as quick as it can be gone. In order to be truly successful in marketing a web site you need to be able to stick with it – to ride out the journey and remain committed.

When it comes to marketing a web site there is a journey all its own. Many companies will work with a web site optimization firm to help them navigate the path; but the point is to stick with it and continue to be committed to the site’s success. Through such efforts as search engine optimization, pay per click and other marketing avenues, web sites can increase their rankings on the search engines and be found by the people that matter the most – the potential customers that can help build their business one purchase at a time and continue to bolster the site through their loyalty and continued visitation.

There are steps in marketing a web site but the most important one is to work with the best – those experts that understand the process and can help you navigate the way around the many changes that happen on the Internet on a nearly daily basis. Most traditional companies would never think of marketing their own business without the help of someone who really understands the market and understands the importance of marketing - as well as the many ways in which to go about it. The same holds true for online marketing. In order to market well and increase web traffic, a web site optimization firm is often the first in many steps toward success.

In the last post we talked about the importance of laying down a solid foundation for a web site before worrying about the many bells and whistles that the web site should produce. Of course before anything else it is important to ensure that the web site is designed in a user friendly manner and that there is a clear navigation plan in place as well as an effective campaign in place to produce content and products that will be attractive to the consuming public.

Next, is to make sure that the people who are likely to be customers of the web site will be able to actually find the site; and the most important component in this is through web site optimization. To this end, many web site owners will work with a web site optimization firm to help them put a proper plan in place that is most likely to be effective. A web site optimization firm will help a company explore:

• Search engine optimization – a method by which a web site can improve its online visibility and move up in the search engine rankings through organic efforts. Search engine optimization efforts will include such things as the inclusion of keyword rich content, strategic linking, and the optimization of the entire web site. This is a more invasive and time-consuming strategy but can provide multilevel and extensive success for a web site that is committed to staying on the journey.

• Pay per click – a method that is essentially the opposite of organic efforts to raise a web site’s rankings. Pay per click involves the purchase of keywords that provide the site a highly ranked place on the search engines as a sponsored ad. The effects of pay per click are immediate and remain consistent as long as the campaign is continually managed.

When you are building a house you may have many plans – you may want to have multiple levels and a variety of rooms for a variety of different purposes. And you may want to decorate different rooms to reflect a particular style. But before you do any of this – design, decoration, landscaping, and anything else – you need to make sure that your house is built solidly; that it has a strong foundation. Because without a strong foundation all the rest of it won’t make any difference whatsoever.

If you look at your web site in this manner you will see how important it is to set a solid online foundation before getting into anything else. People have all these grand ideas about “decorating” their web site and putting all this fun stuff on it that will serve to entertain, inform, and sell their visitors. But unless the site itself is strong in its foundation, all of the extras will have no bearing on the effectiveness of the site.

So what are some of these foundations – the building blocks of an effective site? For one, an effective web site needs to be a solidly developed web site that has a user friendly design and a clear navigation. Further, of course, the best web site in the world means absolutely nothing if no one can find the site. And, to this end, solid web site optimization is absolutely crucial to a site’s long term survival.

In this respect, web sites will work with professionals to help put search engine optimization and pay per click campaigns into effect; the purpose of which is to raise the online visibility of the site and increase the site’s rankings. There are many elements that go into effective online marketing. We’ll discuss these components and the effectiveness of building a solid foundation in the next post.