13/06/12
Making your website work vital to standing out from crowd
by Neil Lakeland, Kent branch chairman of
Chartered Institute of Marketing
A website is one of life's essentials.
However, with 3billion searches on Google every day, it is vital
that your website stands out from the crowd.
Search-engine optimisation (SEO) can get all your digital assets
– website, blog, social media, YouTube videos and any whitepapers
you’ve authored – working together to give you the best chance of
being found.
Firstly, decide keyphrases. Identify how people found you by
checking website analytics, competitors and the Google Keyword
tool.
You need keyphrases that are under-exploited by competitors but
relevant. I use the term “keyphrase” rather than “keyword” because
only 20% of searches are done on single words.
By looking for phrases – made up of two, three or four words –
you can target your efforts on “long-tail” searches.
These keyphrases will become your Holy Grail. They can be used
in your on-page copy. Be careful not to “stuff” the page with the
same keyphrase.
Go for a density of 1-2% and around 200 words per page – up to
four instances on a typical page. Densities of more than 10% may
incur a Google penalty. Keyphrases can also be used in social media
posts, blogs, or anchor text when linked to a third-party site.
List your business in Google Places, especially if you have
bricks-and-mortar presence, using social media accounts to generate
back links to your website and targeting any videos with relevant
keyphrases, including titles and description options. Recognise
that SEO is a long-term solution.
If you need to rank quickly or run a campaign on a certain
keyword (or keywords), the best option is pay-per-click (PPC) using
tools such as Google AdWords.
With click-through-rates (CTRs) dropping on average by 60% for
each position below the No.1 slot in the listings, it is vital that
you are as high as possible.