We live in a result-driven world!  Achieving sales, margin goals and cash flow results are common and constant discussions at most companies. However, when it comes to website performance, unless you’re selling products online, most people avoid conversations about results. Why is that?

Without sales, margins, and cash flow, a lot of organizations simply don’t know what to measure. If you’re talking about the web, search engine results are a great place to start.

Let’s say you own a pizza parlor and you want people to find your location online. 

How can you possibly get on the first page of Google search results, maybe even become number one, for pizza knowing that there are millions of pizza places in the United States?

 

 

The answer lies in selecting keywords that are specific to your business, such as “Pizza Parlor in Wheaton, Illinois,” for example.  Selecting the right keywords, as you might have guessed, is not easy, but it’s critical to quality search results. That’s why you have so many search engine optimization (SEO) specialists advertising on the web. Search engine traffic, it has been proven, can bring you more sales and new customers if done correctly. (Did you know that your website can get penalized for taking certain actions and actually drop in ranking? http://www.webconfs.com/15-minute-seo.php)

But with so many promising that they can make you number one in the rankings, on Google, how do you know who or what to believe?

When you search the internet for “search engine optimization” companies, you are bombarded with choices.  Many promise you immediate results in getting your rankings up, and they even promise you that they can guarantee you’ll be number one in the rankings.  Is that true? Can they really do that?

The answer is no. We have several clients that we’ve taken their keywords and over several weeks and months gotten many, sometimes most, of their keywords ranked #1 on Google. Does that mean we can do that every single time?  I would never make that claim. None of us know Google’s formula for ranking sites so making such a bold claim is, in our view, irresponsible marketing. There are many ways to accomplish high ranking results for your website.  The work that goes on behind the scene of your website is only the starting point.  There are online and offline optimization techniques, which we’ll leave for another blog.

Search engines have adapted to this new web-world of blogs, social media, videos, etc., and are constantly changing how they rank websites.  In previous years, your keywords and links was all that really mattered but times have changed!  Search engines take many more factors into account these days, such as your content, download speed, keyword relevancy and competition, the importance of inbound and outbound links, and of course your connections. 

It is not always about quantity, you also have to factor in quality.  As search engines are getting smarter, so should you.  A reputable marketing company can not only improve your website ranking but do it in a way that preserves your reputation. If someone is guaranteeing you #1 ranking on Google you need to ask yourself, “Does this sound too good to be true?” If it does, well, it may be time to consider another SEO firm.

I should have seen that one coming James. Here’s my recommendation: Ask them.

I’d start by finding sites you are willing to link to and then create a link on your site. Then add sites that you think your site compliments, adds value to. In total you’ll probably want 50-100 targets. Finally, send emails requesting a link. It's best to send the emails to an individual and not to a “Contact Us” email address.

That’s a lot of emailing so I recommend that you create a template and avoid all that unnecessary re-writing and typing. Writing your link requests in a friendly and personalized style will increase your chances of success.

Here is an example of a link request for a fictitious company:

Subject: Social media resources on your website

Good morning, [insert name],

I found the resources on your site helpful and well organized, especially the articles and whitepapers on social media. My company, Get2NoMeZ.com is dedicated to helping others master social media. As far as I can tell we do not compete with one another.

Since November 2007 we’ve posted a new blog three times a week. It’s a big commitment on our part but, like you, we’re serious about helping others and understand that being found on the web takes hard work and constant effort, which is why I’m emailing you.

The purpose of this email is to ask you if would post a link to our site on your site’s Resource Section - www.socialmediamatters/resources.htm?

You can link to us by downloading our logo and code from www. Get2NoMeZ.com/linktous.htm or just create your own link.

We have already added a link to your site (www. Get2NoMeZ.com/resources.htm) on our website and trust you are already getting additional traffic.

I can check your site in a couple weeks to see if you’ve granted my request but an email response would really be appreciated.

Keep up the good work and thanks in advance for your time and consideration.

Regards,

Steve Hartkopf

800-659-3638 (Linda or Ben)

 

Feel free to borrow this template. Obviously it will have to be modified if you’re writing to a site you don’t want to link to from your site.

If you decide to write your own email request template you’ll want to remember to include the following:

It’s a good idea to write a few variations of your request template to (1) see what works best and (2) speak in the style and tone of your target audience. Requests to large corporations, for example, need to be formal while requests to small companies can be less formal.

Finally, remember to keep a record of all the link requests you send out, track your results and don’t be a spammer.

Steve

Part 3 of 3:


3. Advanced Tactics

Steve

Inbound links are an important and often misunderstood search engine optimization tactic.

But before we get into tactics, let's begin with a definition. According to Wikipedia: An inbound link is a hyperlink transiting (Is that a word?) domains. Links are inbound from the perspective of the link target, and conversely, outbound from the perspective of the originator. Inbound links were originally important (prior to the emergence of search engines) as a primary means of web navigation; today their significance lies in search engine optimization (SEO).

In addition to rankings by content, many search engines rank pages based on inbound links. Google's description of their PageRank system, for instance, notes that Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B.[1] Knowledge of this form of search engine rankings has fueled a portion of the SEO industry commonly termed linkspam, where a company attempts to place as many inbound links as possible to their site regardless of the context of the originating site...

Got that?

Maybe this is an easier way to get your head around the concept of inbound links. There are thousands of directories on the web. There are even directories for directories, such as Best of the Web (www.botw.org) or Web Directories (www.web-directories.ws), which boasts 13,000 directories. When these directories list your site's url and provide a link to your site, that is an Inbound Link.

There are many techniques and methods that produce varied results. In my next four posts you will learn some easy and not so easy ways to build links to your site.

1. Beginner Tactics
First, you must have a solid keyword strategy and optimize each page on your website around a different keyword phrase. Each link you build should help a specific page rank higher on the search engines for your specific keyword. 

That said, begin your linking strategy by submitting your page url to relevant free directories. There are lots of business directories (for example) out there where you can just submit your URL, company name and a description of your business. MacRAES Blue Book (www.macraesbluebook.com) is one. MacRAES lists US and Canadian suppliers of industrial product.  Some directories require approval, some require an update every 90 -120 days and some require a fee, which means it takes time, effort and maybe even some financial resources if you want to be listed on the appropriate directories for your website or blog.

In addition use social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, the usual suspects, to build links to your site and blog, assuming your target audience visits the site or these sites rank high for your keywords already.

At this point it's also a good idea to consider hiring someone to perform this work for you. The work is easy to do, albeit time consuming, and as you would expect, delivers a good return on your investment. Just don't hire a firm that guarantees 10,000 links for $500 dollars. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Besides, I've heard more than one "expert" say that Google doesn't like 10,000 inbound links showing up in a day or two. That signals to them that you're gaming the system (at an unacceptable level) and can get you punished. Yikes! It's just not a good idea to poke an 800 pound (Google) gorilla in the nose.

Finally, start a blog. I'm not going to go into specifics here because I've written about blogging dozens of times and there are, literally, thousands of great articles available online to help you get started blogging - Copyblogger and Blogger's Bulletin are two of my favorites. Blog postings keep your site, your inbound links fresh and, as we'll learn in my next post, are a good relationship building tools.

On Wednesday I'll introduce you to some Intermediate Level linking tactics.

Steve