Anatomy of a Web Marketing Makeover – Putting Search Engine Optimization (SEO) into Perspective

(Note: this is part of a series of posts on the marketing makeover of a consultant’s Web site.)

Years ago when I suggested that a client consider search engine optimization (SEO) to attract qualified traffic to his new consulting site he said “I’ve been told that’s not necessary; it will happen on its own.”  Not only was he misinformed, but I have to say it’s insulting to have someone suggest that you’re charging for something that will happen all by itself anyway. (His site did not get optimized and it never attracted the traffic he wanted.)

I’m a big fan of SEO, but I’m the first to admit that it has a bad reputation. Why? Disappointed customers. Many SEO firms will promise to get your site to rank highly, and then proceed to optimize it for non-competitive phrases that no one is searching for.

Plus, they never tell you that plain old high rankings won’t do squat for your business. That’s right. Nada. What does help is ranking highly for the actual phrases that your clients are typing into search engines. Then, your site copy and design have to be compelling enough to turn those visitors into prospects who become interested in what you have to offer.

SEO isn’t just a numbers game. It’s part of a holistic approach to getting traffic and converting visitors.

One of the tenets of SEO is that it’s going to change your site. The biggest change is in the words used on your site – the copy. The copy has to use the phrases that people are searching for. It’s as simple as that.

But what are those phrases? How do you know if anyone is using them? That’s what I’ll discuss next time as I go through the process of keyword research for my current client and her consulting Web site.

-Andrea Harris, Minerva Solutions –

By the way, anyone who wants to learn more about SEO can get a complete education reading the back issues of Jill Whalen’s High Ranking Advisor newsletter and her SEO copywriting guide.

Comments

[mark]

whaz up? great article!

[Andrea Harris]

Phil,

I think software like Web Position Gold is useful for people who sell products and rely on their Web sites for income -- the people who complain that their revenue drops when their ranking drops.

Most of us in professional services don't depend on the Web THAT much to keep our businesses in the black. SEO is a way of thinking and writing, but we do still need to know if it's effective or not. If your hosting provider's stats or Google Analytics doesn't tell you that, then purchasing software might be in order.

[Phil Dunn]

What's the current wisdom regarding SEO software like Web Position Gold? Still worth the price of admission?

Or, is SEO a way of thinking (and writing) in your pages that doesn't need high-tech/software analysis?

[Britton Manasco]

Having conducted some research on the visible value of consulting firm web sites, I am truly surprised by not only how hard their insightful content is to find on the search engines, but how difficult they are to navigate once you do find them. In fact, there's really no reason to come back! My thought is that consulting firms need to make themselves a lot less mystical -- and a lot more accessible -- in this era of growing transparency.