SEO and Internet Advertising

Before the Internet came along, businesses like yours were confined to the local marketplace. Many were forced to resort to sadly expensive advertising schemes and were loaded down with flyers and brochures, Yellow Page ads, direct mail advertising and cold-calling campaigns. This type of advertising is effective, but about as swift as a lumbering dinosaur.

Thankfully, those days have come and gone. Web marketing speed is warp speed compared to the old ways of marketing. The Internet now provides unprecedented opportunity. However, online advertising requires an approach that’s more aggressive, thoughtful, creative, and challenging than traditional methods. To succeed, you’ll need an online marketing strategy that gets peoples' attention and produces top 10 search engine results. We are great at that.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO

Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is simply a catch phrase that encompasses a variety of programming and Internet marketing techniques that can align a website's content, programming, and even URL with strategic keyword and key phrase targeting. Doing so makes it easier for a search engine’s algorithm to understand a website's focus and relevancy. When search engines like Google, MSN, AltaVista or Yahoo have a better understanding of a site and its importance, they give it a higher ranking. These sites appear in so called "natural" or "organic" listings, which are free, compared to sponsored listings, which are not.

Search engine optimization can be simple for some websites, while others may require complex website code, navigation, content and internal link changes. Aurora Information Technology’s SEO services are proven to significantly increase organic search engine rankings. If you rank at the top of Google, you’re golden.

Organic SEO is Good

Organic is good—not only for your body but for your website, too. Organic listings are produced objectively by search engines and people trust them. Sponsored links are essentially ads that businesses pay for. Think about it—when you want genuine information, do you read a reputable periodical or do you turn to an advertorial? Thought so. Organic listings are trusted because they’re objective. Aurora can help you get high placement on search engines naturally and thereby gain credibility and trust with clients.

Strategies for Search Engine Optimization

There are two basic kinds of search engine optimization strategies that you’ll need to become familiar with: on-page search engine optimization and off-page search engine optimization.

On-page optimization strategies involve all of the variables on your website’s actual pages. These include text, pictures, keyword and key phrase density, meta-tags, URLs and internal link structure. To fully optimize your website, its code and content will need to be tailored to make it as "search engine friendly" as humanly possible. Being search engine friendly just means that search engines will have an easy time understanding your site, recognizing its purpose and ranking it accordingly. Off-page search optimization strategies involve optimizing elements other than your website. Off-page optimization techniques include linking, viral marketing, press releases, and so on. Properly optimized sites need to be linked to many other relevant websites. The result will be improved rankings and targeted traffic from search engines.

The Importance of Keywords and Phrases

Using particular keywords in website copy is critically important to your search engine placement and marketing efforts. Key phrases need to appear in your site’s content so that search engines will know how to rank your website. How often and where those keywords appear on your site will contribute to how your site is ranked for relevant search terms.

In short: if your site is tightly focused around specific keywords, it will be better ranked and therefore draw significantly more search traffic than a website that isn’t. Aurora IT will build a list of keywords that will increase your site traffic. We’ll construct pages for your site using the keywords and phrases your prospect customers are searching for. We'll also use those key terms in your website’s tags, title, descriptions, and links. Your bi-weekly or monthly traffic reports will include keyword conversion metrics to establish keywords and key phrases that are returning the best search results.

Check Out Your Competition

Research and find out what your competitors are doing online. Spend a day or two checking out your competitors’ websites. Evaluate each website. Then ask yourself: How did that website tell the story of that company's products or services; was it nice looking; was it easy to find; was it enjoyable to use; did it add to the company's customer service efforts and was it integrated into other known marketing efforts?

Once you have a clear picture of what your online competitors are up to, you’ll be able to design an Internet business plan that factors in what your competition has done right and wrong. Establish objectives based on your observations. That may sound simple, but planning is the most neglected area of website design and search engine marketing. Your online business strategy needs to be an extension, or replacement, of your existing marketing strategy.

For example—if your brand name is well known for honesty, or integrity, or low prices, your website needs to reinforce those perceptions. Your established brand might be more valuable than you think.

In the Internet Age, Knowledge is Power

Never stop analyzing your site’s traffic reports. The only way to adapt and improve your website effectively is to know as much as you can about how consumers are locating your website and how they're surfing around within it once they have found it. Most website analytics will let you know exactly how much traffic your site is attracting, which pages are most popular with those visitors, and which search engines most of your visitors are coming in from. If you're employing a web development firm, be sure that they review this information with you on a regular basis. Know what's working and what isn’t. The bottom line—increasing your website traffic requires top search engine positioning.