December 15, 2009

Remember that quote that says half of the ad budget goes to waste – we just don’t know which half? If your SEO strategy is not right, you could be wasting 100% of your SEO budget.

We have gotten to a point where, if you have an online presence, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a must in your strategy. However, many of our small businesses, though we have SEO within our strategy, follow an approach that results in a waste of time, money and lost opportunity. If you follow the right strategy, it can make a big difference to your business.

For the purpose of this article, I would broadly categorize websites into ecommerce and content websites.  If you sell something on your website, then I would categorize it into an ecommerce website.

E-commerce Websites Need Targeted SEO

If you run an ecommerce website, you need targeted SEO with landing pages devoted to each product or service. You would then want to optimize those pages for the keywords which your prospects are likely to search when they need your products/services. For example, if you sell customized t-shirts, then the keywords would be “customized t-shirts.” The optimization (largely link building or creating links on other websites so that search engines understand that your website is relevant for those keywords) has to be sustained and relevant helping you to push your pages on top of the search results.

Landing Page is Critical

Do you know that on the Web, 4 seconds is all the time you get to capture a visitor’s attention? This means that you have to optimize your landing pages so that you can convey your value proposition as well as interest the visitor in just those 4 seconds. It’s easier said than done. But the thought that you have just 4 seconds could lead to completely redesigning your website. Think about it.

Link Building

Your link building strategy would also differ. For a content website, you could target creating as many links as possible contributed by readers of your website. But for a product landing page, you may have to depend on links created specifically for this purpose. This means that you may have to engage an SEO services provider as you may not have time to do it on a consistent basis.

Content Websites Need Different SEO Strategy

If you have a content website (blog, forum etc.) then, you would want to target keywords that indicate your content. For example, if you wrote a review on the latest iPhone, then you would target the keywords “iPhone Review” rather than “Buy iPhone”.

Your website design would target visitor retention as opposed to leading them to transact with you. This means that you would want to show relevant other content on your website so that the visitor can visit other pages on your website helping you maximize your page views. 

SEO is a long-term game. You need get your strategy right and keep doing the right things before it gives you results. I hope this article has helped you get a perspective on whether the SEO strategy you are following is right.

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Chaitanya Sagar is the Founder and CEO of p2w2 (for PeopleToWorkWith), which helps small businesses outsource services like SEO, Link Building, business and financial planning, software, virtual assistance, and research. p2w2 focuses on building relationships with vendors so you can save time and focus on your business.  

Join the conversation ( 2 )

• TJ McCue 1 year 12 months and 18 days ago

  

  4 seconds seems right. The top design shops have been trending toward those pretty boxes, rounded corners, with prominent calls to action where you can't miss it.

• Jill Fehrenbacher 2 years 1 months and 23 days ago

  

  This is a great overview of the challenges we face on the web everyday. Since Inhabitat has grown into a portal for both content (Inhabitat, Inhabitots, and Ecouterre) as well as an ecommerce portal (The Inhabitat Shop), I've had to specialize the way I think about SEO based on the property.
  
  It's incredible to think that one only has 4 seconds to capture a user before they head elsewhere. It's a bit disturbing, actually. Mostly, though, it makes it clear just how important intuitive and careful design is to the success or failure of a company on the web.