The 3 Stages of a Successful Search Engine Optimization Campaign

  One of the more difficult things about search engine optimization - especially if you haven't worried about your rankings on Google, Yahoo, and Bing in the past - is simply figuring out where to start.

  That's because SEO looks fantastic once it's already working; starting a new campaign and getting to that point can be a much trickier, more complicated process. In fact, many business owners find that they can't get their campaigns off the ground, and can't make substantial improvements in their search rankings, simply because they don't understand how to put all of the tips and activities they've heard about together.

  To help you understand how to make that leap, here are the three stages of a successful search engine optimization campaign:

1. Keyword research and competition analysis. Before you can earn a top spot on Google and the others, you have to know which keywords and phrases can be targeted most profitably. In other words, you want to find out what your best customers would search. You'll also want to know who your competitors are, and what sort of tactics they've been using, as well as perform an audit of your current site to see what your existing search engine profile looks like.
2. Implement the basics of search engine optimization. Once you have some direction in your SEO campaign, it's time to start generating keyword-rich content, optimizing things like page titles and picture descriptions, and uploading site maps and other tools. In other words, to take care of the nuts-and-bolts pieces of your SEO campaign. You'll also need to formulate a strategy for generating high-quality inbound links from other webmasters, whether it's through press releases and blog posts, social links, or other tools.
3. Maintain momentum and make your SEO campaign more efficient. By taking care of those first two steps, you're virtually guaranteed to start improving your search engine profile, so it's time to build on that success. To gain (or keep) a prime search position takes lots of fresh, interesting content. You'll also want to test your landing pages from time to time to ensure that your marketing efforts are strong all around. After all, finding search traffic means little if you aren't turning visitors into buyers.

  Achieving the top search engine rank is never going to be as simple as following the blueprint, but knowing these three steps can certainly help you get started off on the right foot.

  Edward Kundahl is president and owner of Allentown-based BusinessCreator, Inc., an Internet marketing agency and Web development company that offers clients total search marketing and interactive media solutions. His roots are in small-business SEO and marketing and making sites user friendly and accessible to search engines. He can be reached at ed@businesscreatorplus.com.

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