Think Big Blog

When it comes to building web site traffic it tends to go in stages. Those who just launch their site are most interested in getting web traffic at all! They want to know that their efforts to design and launch did not go to waste and that people are actually able to find them. As the weeks pass, however, these same web site owners will undoubtedly look for more web traffic; it’s great that people found them but let’s make sure they are coming back and bringing some friends along with them. At some point, however, web site owners will make the very important connection between their rankings on the search engines and the quantity and quality of visitors that they are getting. Are these visitors converting to customers or are they jumping on and off the site?

This is when web site owners will invariably turn to a web site optimization firm to help them make heads and tails of a marketing strategy that will allow them to reach a higher pinnacle of success. The understanding at this point is that it is important to reach a site’s target audience but the way to do that with any level of consistent success is through the search engines.

It is most important that the search engines are able to find a web site and deem it relevant enough to be ranked within its return results for queries made by engine users. This is what will ultimately get a web site the traffic it needs and what will ultimately deliver them with the quality visitors that will help them grow their business and their web site to the next level.

A web site optimization firm will help a site achieve this in a number of ways – through calculated and results-driven marketing.

We are a culture that is vastly concerned with quantity on a grand scale. We want it all; we want it now; and then we want more. And lots of it. Our accustomed way of thinking is that more means better. Unfortunately, however, this line of reasoning can get us into trouble because it skews the reality of our situation, especially when it comes to business.

Consider the business that is only concerned with the number of visitors that they get in their store. Is heavy traffic a good thing? Sure it is. This kind of attention creates a buzz and a buzz is never a bad thing in business; it helps to build a brand in a grassroots manner.

But how effective is a buzz if no one coming into the store is buying anything? All the traffic in the world doesn’t do a business any good if it’s not the right kind of traffic; and therein is the important differentiation between quantity and quality.

Quality visitors are really what a business wants in the end; those who are likely to become actual customers in their purchase of products or services. This is especially true when it comes to web sites that count on web traffic to populate their site. Through search engine optimization methods and other marketing efforts, web sites do their best to increase web traffic. When web traffic is increased the business- the web site – is positively impacted as a buzz is created and the brand is grown. But, as with a traditional business, what good is all that traffic if those coming to the site are not the visitors who will ultimately buy from you?

A web site optimization firm helps web sites to identify their target audience so that they can begin to understand the difference between quantity and quality and grow their business accordingly. More to come…

You’ve heard the expression “less is more” – an expression that essentially means that quality can often stretch further and offer more value than simply volume. This is most especially true when it comes to a business’s customers. Value, not volume, is what will build a business and feed the bottom line. Look at a store for instance. Your store can be jam-packed with people each and every day (volume) but the only people that matter to the bottom line are those who are buying (value). So it obviously only benefits the store to target – through their marketing efforts - the audience that is likely to buy or is at least in the market for what the store has to offer.

The same goes for a website. A website can get tons of hits each day – traffic that works to bolster their rankings; but if the site does not target those visitors who are in the market for the products and services that the website has to offer, the value of those visitors is ultimately lost.

Website owners that want to raise their rankings and compete aggressively in the competitive online arena, will often work with a website optimization firm to help them best market their site. But be wary. Because the best online marketing companies should be interested in more than just populating the site with visitors; they should be invested in bringing high quality visitors to the site that will offer value in terms of their potential to become a customer. This is the kind of value that will serve to build a business.

Web traffic is obviously important for a website that wants to stay on the map and on the radar of the search engines. But it is the type of traffic that will ultimately determine the fate of the site. Target web traffic that makes sense and build your business with a solid foundation.

In the last post we talked about the desire inherent in any choice of a vendor that the client has to receive a certain level of account management. Sometimes the management provided by a vendor lives up to and even surpasses expectations; sometimes it comes up dramatically short. But in some industries the process that is set in motion does not require daily hands on management; although such management is of course added value for any client.

But when it comes to online marketing account management is absolutely crucial to the process; hands-on, day to day, ongoing, and focused account management. Because the Internet is a continually evolving animal, rules change almost as quickly as we are able to adapt. The goal of any web site in pursuit of web traffic and business growth is to fully engage the search engines, elevating their rankings so that engine users can find their web site.

So ultimately marketing online has as much to do with the search engines as anything else; finding ways to gain the attention of the search engines. And the search engines continuously change their benchmarks on how they rate web sites; so it is incumbent upon those who are marketing a site to stay up to date on these standards so they can make sure to adjust their marketing process accordingly.

This is clearly a process that depends on daily account management; a web site optimization firm that is involved in the ins and outs of the search engines so that they can offer expert guidance – not just a cookie cutter approach to marketing their site that does not take into account the client’s own particular needs as well as the changes in the search engine’s standards.

With a knowledgeable, experienced web site optimization firm on its side, web sites have peace of mind that they are in good hands.

Money spent on marketing is obviously best spent when there is a return on investment. Without that return the money spent might as well be thrown into the wind. Businesses need to know that they are putting their money in the right place and that it will work in the best way possible to increase their revenues by targeting those that are likely to be converted into customers.

This is especially apparent with web sites that attract web site traffic through a number of different efforts as well as just as a matter of course when web site search engine users stumble upon a site. It is not enough to generate web site traffic when the traffic reaching the site is unlikely to contain potential customers that can help to grow the bottom line of a business.

Web sites that are most interested in engaging in marketing efforts that will deliver a return on investment tend to work with a professional web site optimization firm that will maximize their marketing dollars.

A web site optimization firm will direct a web site in the right direction in order to make the best use of the avenues available to them. This many include a comprehensive pay per click (PPC) campaign that will give them quick traction on the search engines, along with a search engine optimization campaign that will give them natural results on the engines. But more than anything it is with the specific needs of the web site in mind – including their budget – to deliver them the potential customers that will grow their business most aggressively.

With a professional web site optimization firm at the helm of their marketing campaign, a web site can be more assured that they will get a return on investment with their marketing dollars spent.

Every business needs a plan; without one companies are without accountability for the decisions they make – fiscal and otherwise. But with a solid plan in place, companies are able to follow the path that has been set out from the beginning and make headway with clear direction. And at the end of the year they have something solid to look back on in determining if the course they set was the appropriate one.

Web sites are no different when it comes to the necessity of a business plan. Web sites need the direction provided by such forethought so that they can set a clear path towards increasing web traffic throughout the year and growing their business through an expansion of their customer base. As those in charge of web site marketing sit down to put together their plan of action for the year ahead, they may consider whether or not the choice to call in professionals is the right path for them to take. The reality is that a web site optimization firm – professionals who expertly guide web sites in their online marketing efforts – can be tantamount to maximizing a web site’s plan for the coming year.

A web site optimization firm, as a part of an overall marketing plan for the coming year can help web sites:

• Attract the attention of the search engines and subsequently raise their page rankings. High page rankings can increase web traffic and deliver the site with new business; search engine optimization professionals can help web sites achieve this goal for sustainable visibility.

• Manage pay per click campaigns to gain fast traction on the search engines.

• Optimize a web site so that it is user and search engine friendly.

• Help the site attract targeted web site traffic; users that are interested in the products and services that the site offers.

In the last post we talked about the goals of businesses as they enter the New Year; about how successful companies reevaluate their progress year to year and adjust accordingly to continue those programs that have worked, explore new methods of interest, and drop those methods that have not shown them a return on investment. For web sites that are facing the new year while crafting their own marketing plans, this is the time when they are (or should be) questioning themselves about the success of their online presence and whether or not they saw the web site traffic that they anticipated or that they need to further their business.

Those web sites that saw a stalemate on their web site traffic may be considering working with a web site optimization firm to further their efforts on a more professional scale. A web site optimization firm is uniquely poised to take advantage of changing trends online and to help their clients position themselves firmly in a place where they can increase web site traffic and grow their business.

After examining and making recommendations regarding on-page SEO, web site functionality, and design, a web site optimization firm will work with a client to choose keywords that are specific to their business; keywords that – when infused into content – will not only help to trigger the search engines and raise the site’s online visibility and increase web site traffic, but also deliver the site with visitors that are interested in the unique products and services that they offer. In other words, with well chosen keywords and content that is placed in the most effective positions, web sites will not only increase web site traffic but realize the opportunity to reach their target audience – something that all businesses strive to do effectively through their advertising and marketing campaigns.

It is obviously the goal of every business to be as successful as possible in their industry; and what does not work in fostering that goal is quickly replaced with something that will work after the situation is examined and a new plan is put into place. Web sites – like any other business – are concerned with achieving success and in the online world success comes in the form of web site traffic; the more visitors to a site the more chances that some of those visitors will be converted into customers. To that end, many web sites are looking to the New Year as a time when they can reenergize their efforts to increase web site traffic through search engine optimization.

What many web sites will find, of course, is that their efforts are best served by working with a professional web site optimization firm that can lead them through the steps to better SEO and more pronounced web site traffic. Better still, experienced search engine optimization firms know how to put SEO plans in place that will actually deliver the site with more targeted traffic.

What are the steps involved in search engine optimization? And how does a professional web site optimization firm lead a web site through those steps?

For one, a web site optimization firm will examine their client’s web site the way that it currently exists. They will make recommendations regarding functionality, landing pages, and on-page SEO – all components that, if not done correctly, can work against a site’s progress.

With the web site in good shape, a web site optimization firm will start the process of search engine optimization – crafting and implementing content that contains specially chosen keywords. These keywords are what will help turn web site traffic into targeted web site traffic. More in the next post…

Search engine optimization is the challenge that every web site faces on a daily basis; the challenge to “wake” up (if you can wake up in a venue that is essentially open around the clock) and deliver fresh, new ideas onto a web site that always makes strategic use of the handpicked keywords meant to deliver you with web site traffic. SEO – for all the term is thrown around – is a huge undertaking by any standard; which is undoubtedly the reason that so many web site owners turn to professional teams to help them achieve their goals. There is a consistent and, let’s not underestimate it, staggering amount of work that must be done in order to help a web site reach the promise land of a high page ranking on the search engines. But what happens once they get there? Does everyone wipe their brow, take a deep sigh of relief, and carry on? Absolutely not. Search engine optimization is a process that must be worked on a daily basis in order for there to be long term success and consistently high page rankings. It is not, unfortunately, something to be achieved and pocketed; making reputable SEO firms worth their weight in gold in terms of acting as a company’s online marketing arm.

More than anything, content is imperative to achieving page rankings and increased web site traffic. And the ability to generate new and fresh content on a weekly basis into which keywords related to the company are infused is a service that a search engine optimization firm provides its client. This is a huge point to consider when hiring an SEO firm and there are many questions to consider because, ultimately their methodology will decide your web site’s fate on the search engines. More in the next post…

What happens when you throw open your doors wide to the world? Well, chances are you going to have some visitors you did not anticipate. Imagine throwing a party in your home and just opening your front door. Sure, those who are invited will certainly come but eventually the music, the laughter, and the conversation will reach the ears of those in the vicinity who will assume – by your open door – that they are welcome and they will pop on in to say hello. Before you know it you could have a houseful of people on hand and many of whom don’t belong there.

This is essentially what web site owners do when they don’t pay careful enough attention to their search engine optimization methods. SEO is meant to raise the site’s ranking with the search engines, thus allowing more people to find them so that they can increase web site traffic. Those keywords are what eventually will decide if you have a gathering of people who belong or a houseful of visitors who are just milling around.

Chose the wrong keywords – those that are too general and could be applied to nearly any business rather than yours specifically – and you will have all manner of visitors. And while this will increase web site traffic it will not give you the targeted marketing you need to grow your business. Hand pick keywords that are specific to your business, however, and you will be reaching out to your intended audience – inviting those who will be interested in your product and growing your business while also raising your online visibility.

Keyword choice is not to be taken lightly and it is best done with the guidance of a web site optimization firm that can offer clear direction and a comprehensive marketing plan.