Handy Hints for Smaller Businesses: Search Engine Marketing

There are many ways for smaller businesses to make the most of Search Marketing.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website via organic ranking in search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN. SEO works by taking into account the most valuable keywords and phrases in relation to your company, as well as the way search engines find them, with the aim of improving your search rankings. Consequently, when your website starts appearing near or at the top of the first page of search results, you will benefit from increased relevant traffic followed by more sales.

When it comes to SEO, there are several details to consider. Research into keywords and phrases must take into account exactly what your potential customers are searching for. The content of related articles must then be of significant quality, with the established keywords and phrases included within all the right places such as page titles and headings. This will then make it as easy as possible for search engines to find your related content. In order to maintain a good search ranking, it is then important to frequently publish new website content often.

Another aspect of search marketing available to small businesses is Pay Per Click. PPC, or Sponsored Links, are a method of internet advertising that can also be seen on search engines and elsewhere when a keyword or phrase is searched for (usually they will appear on the right-hand side of the screen or away from the ranked results). Subsequently, every time the link is clicked the advertiser will then pay the host. The success of a PPC campaign can rely on changes in the habits of those searching for your keywords and phrases – and so its progress must be frequently analysed. Many factors can affect trends in conversion and enquiry, such as different times of the day, months of the year, or even if the weather is bad. The possibility of similar but unrelated matches must also be taken into account; clicks on ‘Crown Paint’ could waste a dental surgery budget advertising on broad match against ‘Dental Crowns’.

Finally, Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is a way to improve your search ranking, as well as obtaining web traffic from ‘social’ sites. Embeddable widgets, that are placed within social networking sites (like Myspace, Facebook and Bebo), can enhance your web presence. But other additions, such as RSS news feeds and buttons in relation to blogs (social bookmarking) can be used to link from other sites back to your article. Likewise, to generate interest from further sources, such as mobile phones, MSEO (Mobile Search Engine Optimisation) can target a wider range of people – even when they are miles away from their PC.

For more SEO information visit http://www.guava.co.uk/search-engine-marketing/search-engine-optimisation/