September 17, 2007, Appleton Post Crescent
By Kathy Fredrickson
iMark Consulting - President
Search Engine Optimization Ensures Best Web Presence
I felt like Sally Field the other day, but the coveted prize wasn't an Oscar. It was a first-place showing on Google.
Focused and continuous optimization does pay off and it's a good feeling when Google does appear to really like your site.
Organization and persistence of the people in charge of optimization are critical to success. If you aren't committed, your search engine optimization efforts can fall from A-list star status to unknown starlet overnight.
Intellicam, a product identification and architectural signage manufacturer in Greenville, knows the value of optimization activity firsthand. After launching a redesigned Web site in August, the owner decided to allocate financial and human resources to promote the site online. His team is discovering submissions from years ago that include dated and limited information. Resubmitting is valuable, but could have been much easier with accurate records of activities, user names and passwords.
Intellicam used the documentation issue as a learning experience and developed five optimization categories to track and document their efforts. They are: business directories, link exchanges, online press release distribution, social media Web site links and paid advertising.
Business and industry directories: Intellicam started broad and conducted a search for "business-to-business" directories. Hundreds of opportunities to list were presented, and they have begun to update and submit to sites such as www.business.com, jayde.com and dmoz.com as well as lesser-known sites like www.freedir. thebest25sites.com. Intellicam also is resubmitting information to industry-related directories. The company has assigned one person responsible for submission, who is charged with reading the requirements carefully and drilling down the directory categories to capture all possible listings. Her directive is to submit the Intellicam site with titles and descriptions that are the same as the target keywords in the Web site copy and online paid advertising campaigns.
Link exchanges: Intellicam has begun to make a list of noncompeting colleagues from their professional associations with the goal of starting a resource directory on their Web site. Search engines like relevant link exchanges, especially when both Web sites use similar key words in their copy.
Press releases: After hearing about the success one of my clients has had with online press releases, Intellicam will be submitting its news to www. prweb.com and other online wire services. Online press releases circulate for months, and while it may not result in offline coverage for them, it should make an impact in their link popularity.
Social media: A search using the Intellicam name on technorati.com, a blog search engine, was an eye-opening experience for the company. A few bloggers had plenty of colorful things to say, but were referring to another organization by the same name. Intellicam has now begun to submit optimized, helpful comments on social media sites that link back to their site. Google favors links from social media sites when calculating link popularity.
Targeted paid advertising: Intellicam has reorganized its paid advertising campaigns to include the same words and key phrases used on their redesigned site. Paid advertising is monitored daily by the same person in charge of the directory, press release and social media submissions. She swaps out key words in the campaigns that don't perform well to increase the likelihood that each campaign will remain relevant and effective.
Intellicam hopes to achieve first-place rankings, proving the Web site can be popular again. The chances for success look pretty good now that the company has got a targeted plan and a person responsible for making it happen. Let's hope I get a call in the next few months from the owner proclaiming "Google likes me, they really like me!
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