The New Age of Seo: Right to the Facts

With the advent of computers and internet, an all new meaning was given to the term globalization. Websites came into being and what was initially seen as a sales gimmick for large scale companies, is today taken as an essential sales strategy, even for a local small scale businesses. Almost everyone in the commercial sector is aware that websites are essential if one is looking to succeed and grow in their business sphere. It is no wonder then that right from Coke to a small scale bulb producer in Holland, everyone has a website to boast of.

Today, advertising strategies are developed keeping in mind not only the regular prospect but also those who use the virtual market for their shopping needs. Right from furniture, flowers, food to feet care products everything can be bought online.  Instead of confining ones business to only those in the vicinity the need to is to go global. Business persons have realized that depriving your business of a website can translates to depriving your business of clients. The entire globe is a consolidated market, all one needs to do is to set up an efficient web site and tap potentials worldwide.

Sounds easy? It is. Whether you hire a web development agency to do the job or adopt a DIY web building software in order to launch your website, the trick is to maximize its exposure. An effective web site is one that ensures maximum traffic and develops content that helps make converts. This is where Search Engine Optimization steps in. Search engine optimization is the art of developing web content by adopting certain keywords that help in attracting traffic to the site. There is no doubt that there are several other forms of diverting traffic towards your website like Pay per click adds, link advertising, etc. However, it has been observed that search engine optimized content development, is one of the most effective as well as easy methods of increasing web traffic.

A few facts about SEO development will help understand the importance of the strategy as well as learn how to develop appropriate search engine friendly content.

1) Most prospects come via search engines- Irrespective of how easy to remember your website name is, it is probable that sometimes even 90 % of the traffic the site witnesses, is via search engines. Most people use keywords to look for providers, and then conduct a comparison between the names that come up. Therefore, it is imperative that you do not loose out on these prospects, who may not have heard of your company, but are looking for products that you sell. It is a fact that ignoring search engine optimization will lead you to loose out to competitors who sell similar products.

2) Registered search engines work the best – There are several search engines out there, but ask around and most people will stop after naming Google and Yahoo. Not only are these search engines registered but that is what makes them authentic too. Registered search engines will ensure that the host site is functional 99 % of the time. A host site that is frequently down repels prospects, which automatically translates to less traffic for the website begin hosted. So the trick is to ensure that you select search engines that are registered, popular and keep their site operational almost always.

3) Most users use more than one keyword to search – Another important fact about SEO is that the keyword selection must be attacked from the point of view of the users. It is a known fact that most users use a search phrase rather than a single word. It is therefore imperative to organize content that is not keyword rich but rather key phrase rich. Instead of using a keyword as common as say, ‘shoes’ it would be better to use ‘red shoes’, ‘cheap shoes’ leather shoes’ and so on. Statistics show that 32.58% users use two word phrases when using a search engines.

4) Tracking the user- The golden rule of commercial success is to deliver in accordance with the clients needs. If you know what the customer wants, then you will be able to tap in on the potential of a sale much more. Similarly, search engine optimization can also be mastered if you know what the prospect is looking for and what are the means adopted by the prospect for this search. Interestingly there are several methods that allow you to track your target customers. Tracking will enable you to assess which search engines are being used by your prospects and what type of keywords are they employing in this search. Armed with this knowledge you shall be able to capture the SEO demon easily. Develop content around the popular keywords that prospects are using to search for products similar to yours. Once the content has been developed, place it on your site and then on the search engines that the prospects are using the most.

5) Multi search engine hosting – Choosing a single search engine to host your site will be like placing all your eggs in one basket. While it is true that one must employ a popular search engine, this does not mean that you can afford to ignore all the others. A more coherent SEO strategy would be one where several search engines are employed as means to deliver the site to the prospect. Each person visiting your site has the potential to convert into a client. Therefore the more search engines you use for this purpose the more traffic you add to your site.

6) Check and re check – Once you have created search engine optimized content and posted it, you cannot simply put your feet up and expect conversions. You must check and recheck to confirm if the content is actually working. For this once more tracking comes in handy. E- commerce supporting software that allows you to analyze how many hits the site managed, what were the keywords used by the prospects, which search engines were employed, how long did the prospect stay on the site, which pages did the potential client view, how many converted, what were the services that they were looking for, etc, are a must. The answers to these questions will help you develop a better website by epitomizing your SEO strategy.

7) Update constantly- Time is never still, it is in constant flux and this holds true for the internet too. Things on the net change continuously. What was good enough last night may have been beaten by your competition by today morning. Indeed then, you must at all times keep pace with this change. It is therefore necessary to update your search engine developed content often. Maintaining your website is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. Continuing with an outdated site, content or keywords will fail to attract prospects.

8) High page rank – Most users rarely go beyond the first or the second page of the search results. Unless you maintain a high search rank chances of attracting prospects via the search engine will be highly diminished. It is very important that your site comes up as high as possible on the results page of the search engine. For this an effective keyword density will need to be adopted along with the use of popular keywords and phrases.

9) Appropriate keyword density- Keyword density is the number of times that the keyword appears in all of the content. It is this density that decides the search engine page rank that the site shall enjoy. However, this does not mean that only the keyword density is to be given regard while the quality of the content maybe completely ignored. Remember unless your content is good, even if you do manage to pull in prospects using keywords, you shall not be able to make converts. Since it is the final sale that is the backbone of any commercial venture, you cannot ignore the quality of the content at any given time. Today there are highly intelligent search engines that have been developed, which are able to choose websites that are authentic instead of simply falling for high density keyword rich content. On an average a density of 3% to 4 % is considered a safe option.

10) Keyword placement – As important as keyword density, is keyword placement. Placing the keyword in the right area rather than simply bunching them all together will go a long way in ensuring good quality search engine optimized content. On an average, it is safe to say that ensuring that the keyword appears once in the title, once in the first and last sentence of the content and once every 100 to 150 words in the body of the content is fairly good keyword placement. At no point should the keyword override the quality of the content. Remember most readers can be lost or captured by the first few sentences of any write up.

While these ten pointers listed above are the basic facts about SEO content creation, it is not to say that they are the only steps one needs to follow. Search engine optimization is the latest trend of E- commercial activities. Developing on these pointers and adopting your own special qualities, will help in creating high quality search engine optimized content and therefore generating added traffic for your website.