SEO Goals - Part Two

In the prior post, I discussed some of the reasons that you might be interested in search engine optimization, and SEO goals that you might have such as increasing the number of visitors to your site, increasing the number of page views, decreasing the bounce rate, increasing sales, or any other goals that you or your organization might have.

In part 2, I want to discuss the second part of goal setting, which is having Intelligent Search Engine Optimization Goals ('ISEOG').  Understanding what you want to do is only the first step, but if you are truly going to travel down the success path of SEO then you have to make sure that you have obtainable targets to reach.  For example, you can be the best rifle marksman in the world, but you will never hit anything if you cannot choose a target.  Search engines are the same way, and ISEOG (I say ice-og) is important.

The first thing about your goals is that they have to be specific.  It does you no good to say that you want to "increase visitors" without defining what you mean by that.  If you want to get one hundred visitors a day, then that has to be your target.  Otherwise, you increase by one (from zero even), and you have "success."  Set specific goals that you want to achieve.

Next, you have to make certain that your goals are measurable, and then you have to actually measure them.  For example, using the previous mentioned goal of hitting 100 visitors a day, you have to make sure that you are counting each day and tracking your progress.  If you say you want more visitors without defining it, it is hard to know if your efforts are paying off.  Also, once you see success, you will  be more motivated, so tracking is very important for this reason as well.

In line with both of the previous two recommendations, you have to make sure that your goals are obtainable.  It is great to want to achieve high traffic volumes, but if you make your goal one million visitors a day, and you are currently at ten, you will likely get frustrated at your failure to hit such an unobtainable goal.  Be smart in your goal setting, and make certain that they will push you, but are also possible.

The most important component of all three of this goal-setting is that you have to make it time relevant.  You want to make certain that not only do you create goals that are specific, measurable, and obtainable, but you also want to make certain that you put a time deadline on getting to where you want to be.  If you do not limit the amount of time that you have, or put some kind of pressure on yourself to achieve, then you will find it easy to not take care of business or to constantly re-evaluate where you stand.

Follow the tips outline in Part One and Part Two of this article on SEO Goals and you will be well on your way to success.

Should You Change Your Domain Name?

Sometimes I get a question from clients that always catches me a bit off guard.  The question is, "Should I change my domain name?"  My answer almost always is no, and for several reasons.

For starters, moving to a new domain name is risky and potentially dangerous to your business.  The only reasons you should ever consider this is if you have been at the domain a very short time, you have no investment in the old domain name, or if you are moving away from a shared hosting (like Wordpress or Blogger) to your own domain.  Even if one these applies, you have to manage the switch very carefully.  Why?  The reasons are pretty simple.

You should picture your potential domain move like moving a business that has been in the same location for several years.  Your customers, clients, readers, etc, are all used to going to the same place, and even though you can let them know about the move, some may simply not come.  This is true in the physical world, and on the Internet.

Also, picture everyone that is trying to visit your business relying on old information from the phone book (or for those more tech savvy - Iphone, Google Map, Yelp listing, etc).  Search engines are the same way.  A move away from your current domain means that all of your hard work for search engine optimization is gone, and you may potentially fall (or even leave) the search engine rankings for a good while.  Is this worth it?

In addition, any link popularity that you have built up will also be gone.  Say goodbye to that hard work as well.  You will have to start from scratch on that as well.

You will also lose the authority from having a new domain in lieu of an older one.  Search engines treat websites kind of like we treat people.  You wouldn't expect a baby to have a lot of authority, but someone with a few grey hairs - that is someone that you will pay attention to.

Last but not least, and perhaps the most dangerous part of changing your domain name is the decline in traffic associated with such a switch.  You may lose anywhere from 40-95% of your traffic due to the time it will take to index, the fall out of search engines, and old clients not knowing your new site name. If you are an online retailer, this can be a dangerous thing indeed.

So think a bit before you change names.  Although you can 301 redirect from your old site, you had better absolutely be certain that it is the right long term move for your site, or else the move will result in a lot of headaches and problems that can only be cured with patience, hard work, and time.

SEO Goals - Part One

I had a client recently who told me his goal was to be number one on the search engines.  While this lofty goal makes sense, I shared with this client that such a goal is not enough.

Typically, when a client first approaches me, we sit down and have a discussion about the SEO goals - beyond ranking number one.  Typically, I ask questions that are designed to find out if the client is interested in increasing the number of unique visitors to a site, whether they want to increase the number of page views that a visitor has, whether they are interested in decreasing the bounce rate, if they are interested in increasing the number of pages viewed per visit, whether they have any interest in increasing the number of visits to a landing page, if they are interested in converting more visitors to customers, if they are interested in creating long term customer lists, and how concerned they are with increasing sales or leads from their site.

It is not enough to just say that you want to be number one.  This is a great place to start, but you also have to understand what you are trying to do, why you are trying to do it, and then work to develop a quality plan to get you where you want to be.

An example may help clarify what I am speaking of.  Let's say that your keyword phrase is "chicken pot pie" and that on Google, Bing, and Yahoo you are currently in the first position for your keyword phrase.  However, despite this number one ranking, you are facing several problems, such as visitors showing up at your site and then leaving without visiting the various pages, or worse, visiting a few pages but never buying your famous chicken pot pies.  Despite being ranked number one, business is terrible, and after reading this article you understand why.

It is not enough to have a goal to be number one.  It is merely a starting point to effective search engine optimization and business planning.  Think smart, think long term, and being number one may actually mean something to you and your business in terms of success.  Rank number one and have a page that generates no business, and you will quickly see how meaningless ranking number one can be.

Blogging Posts: How Long Should They Be?

In terms of search engine optimization, there is always a lot of discussion and questions surrounding the topic of how long should a blog post be.  Most of the advice out there says no less than 300 words, and most advocate between five hundred to a thousand words for optimization purposes, but I do not think this is always best.

The reason for my thinking is simple.  Search engine optimization for blogs is designed to get to readers to a site, and the hope is that once they arrive they will become lifelong readers.  So, in terms of getting them to find the blog to start with, the aforementioned thoughts about minimums and advice about optimal word counts make perfect sense.  However, there is a problem with this that I have seen time and time again.

Often when people start really focusing on their word counts, their blogs begin to suffer.  Content quality drops in exchange for content quantity, and the focus shifts towards getting higher search engine results.  This shift causes problems for current readers who expect a certain level of quality and organization to a blog.  When shifting to quantity focus, many people lose readers because their blog suffers.  Keyword stuffing, poor organization, repeated keywords, and mindless drivel are the fastest ways to drive your readers away (besides not ever posting or never posting original content), so while your word count focus may gain you a new reader, you may lose ten.

Also, you have to keep in mind that just because a new reader finds your blog does not mean that they will become a permanent reader.  If you sacrifice content for word count, you can be sure that the new reader will notice in the same way that your old readers did before they moved on.  So, in the end you not only have lost your following, but new followers will not be inclined to keep reading either.  Focusing solely on word count is a lose-lose situation, and it will cost you.

Instead, keep in mind that quality content is king.  Word count can be important, but the quality of what you write and how your readers feel about it will have much more of an impact than anything else that you do.  If you write quality material that is well-organized, and meets minimal word count requirements, you will be much more successful than someone who write two thousand words of meaningless nonsense.

Content - Still King

When it comes to the process of search engine optimization, there are a wide variety of thoughts, ideas, directives, and suggestions for optimizing your website, but I am here to tell you now that no matter what else you do, you have to start with content.

Let me be clear - no matter what changes in technologies have occurred, what algorithm changes have been made, what social media is currently popular - all of that doesn't matter if you have poor content that isn't useful to your searchers.  Content was, and is, still the king of search engine optimization.

If your website has quality content in sufficient quantities, then you have the basic building blocks for success.  There are always changes that can be made for search engine optimization, but if you lack the proper content that is useful, readable, and makes sense to visitors, it will not bode well for the future of your website.

A second point to all of this is that even if you obtain high search engine rankings and have poor or useless content, it will be a waste of time, both for searchers and for you.  Anyone that stumbles across you website and cannot find the information they are looking for will be sure to quickly click the back button and move on to bigger and better sites with more valuable information and better content.

So, as you design your website, or work with a search engine specialist, keep in mind that content is king.  Build a strong foundation, and everything else will be better in the long run.

SEO is a Never-Ending War

Sometimes I hear people talk about Search Engine Optimization as if it is a goal that can be achieved.  I can see their point of view, because once you hit number one on Google you seem to be all set for success.  However, I think that this view is very short-sighted.  Winning a battle doesn't win a war, and you have to be willing to  commit long-term in order to win the SEO war.

After all, becoming number one on Google is a lot like occupying a small piece of enemy territory.  Sure, you have taken the spot, and you can celebrate a bit in light of your accomplishment, but you can never forget that it is a spot that the enemy (your competitors) will want to re-take.  If you spend to much time congratulating yourself and forget to keep watch and stay alert, you can fully expect the enemy to come back and surprise you, reclaiming that territory.

SEO doesn't end until you have accomplished your objective, and if you object is to not just achieve a number one ranking, but also to maintain that number one ranking, you should expect to continue battling for as long as your business it operational.  Work hard, continue fighting, and treat each day as number one like a victory on the battlefield.  Congratulations may be in order, but a new battle looms just over the horizon.

How Long Should You Contract For SEO?

Being in the business of search engine optimization, we often get questions about how long things will take, but a question that we also get is "how long should you contract for SEO services?"

As I have mentioned before, search engine optimization takes time, and there are little guarantees in how long something will or will not take.  However, I do recommend to all of clients, whether they are new or long-term, to sign short term contracts unless they are absolutely comfortable and confident in our services.

This may seem like a strange business practice, urging clients to sign short contracts, but in the end I find that it pays off quite a bit.  The reason is simple: Clients want different things on different timelines.  Some are more understanding of the search engine optimization process, and others are a little less patient.  If you are not getting what you want in the time that you want, regardless of the reason, you want to have the freedom to explore the waters a bit.  And, since we are so confident in our abilities, we are more than happy for our customers to take a brief hiatus from us, although we like to ask for at least 3 months to show what we can do (6 months being optimum).  However, I hear tales of people being asked to sign contracts for a year or more, and I just don't think that makes sense from a business perspective.

After all, while search engine optimization is an ongoing process, your needs and desires may change, or you may not be happy with customer service, or any other of a number of variables.  Do yourself a favor - at least initially, keep that SEO contract short - after all, nothing is worse than contractually being stuck working with people you don't like, not to mention the added expenses of hiring someone you do like.  Added bonus:  when you find the right company, you'll know it, and then that long term contract isn't much of an issue as long as you are confident in your business and they are doing their job, but a short term contract keeps you from being stuck with a company that you may not even be able to afford until your search engine stuff gets where it should be.

Best wishes!