According to the United Nations Cyberschoolbus, “It took radio broadcasters 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, television 13 years, and the Internet just four.(1)” As the World Wide Web continues to see colossal growth, building an identity on the web is absolutely essential - and finding a professional search engine positioning company is your first step in increasing your online presence.
Any experienced advertising professional will tell you that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) advertising is an advantageous marketing strategy for your business with a higher return on investment than many conventional advertising mediums. With SEO advertising, a great time investment is imperative to maximize returns, so hiring a qualified internet marketing firm is crucial. While most other advertising is treated as “One Size Fits All”, internet marketing requires a customized strategy to achieve the perfect balance and get your website to the top of the search engines.
Here are some of the types of SEO services offered by internet marketing strategists:
Organic Search Engine Optimization
Studies have shown that over 70% or more of all search engine users prefer clicking on the natural listings in the main left portion of the search engine results versus the sponsored listings on the right. Getting your web site to appear in the natural listings involves internal optimization to make your web site more search engine friendly and includes extensive keyword research, title and meta tag adjustments, keyword targeted SEO copywriting, and improving linking structure and navigational elements.
Sponsored/Paid Listings
Sponsored listings can be found at the very top and along the right hand side of the search results. These PPC (Pay Per Click) listings are an effective way of attracting qualified leads with targeted keywords and since you only pay when someone clicks on your listing, this method is relatively cost-effective. A good Pay Per Click manager should be Google AdWords Qualified and can provide you with account setup, management, conversions, and reporting.
Link Building
Link building is an important part of optimization, as Google considers this metric of high importance when ranking your web site. According to Google, "webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.(2)" Search engine positioning companies will create unique content that people will want to link to without even asking, submit your web site to quality directories, ask for links on relevant web sites, and write quality articles and press releases that include a link to your website.
Local Map Listings
Google and some other major search engines now provide geo-specific
listings that appear at the top of search results with a map when a search term includes a geographic location (such as Atlanta Dentist). Similar to the organic listings below Local Listings are free, so there are no click-through fees when a user navigates to your web site. Rankings criteria is based on various factors, including search engine optimization, proper geographic information listed on your site, and getting positive "reviews" through third-party web sites.
Reputation Management
Since just one negative review on a company in the search results can cause a loss of valuable business, reputation management has become crucial for many businesses with an online presence. With professional reputation management, a negative review of your company can be removed or pushed farther down the search results, ensuring that potential customers see your business as you wish it to be seen.
It is important to note that SEO is not an exact science, but rather the perfect balance of many different specialized skills. Most SEO advertising companies will recommend at least two or more of the above services for your internet marketing strategy in order to achieve optimal performance.