So goes the famous movie line, “If you build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, it’s not that simple when it comes to traffic to your website. That’s where SEO or search engine optimization comes in. Since search engines are one of the primary ways in which Internet users can find your website, it can be vital to the success of your business that you rank highly in search engine results. Most businesses want to rank high on page one of a search engine results page (SERP). So, the important questions to ask are; how do you rank and what keywords to rank for?

Why SEO is right for your business:

• creates visibility in search engines and social media
• increases brand awareness
• helps build return visits and loyalty
• provides key market information: demand, competition, opportunities
• helps distinguish your business from your competitors
• presents your business in the best possible light
• creates value for your business: new leads, conversions, readers, friends
• provides a quick way for potential customers to find out essential information about your business, products and services
• creates a fast way for your target market to contact you
• can provide long term traffic

How it works:
SEO takes into consideration how search engines find, index and rank web pages. Only a handful of engineers at Google and Microsoft actually know the algorithms that produce search engine results. However, by studying, testing and retesting, we have developed a structured approach to SEO that looks at the technical and non-technical factors of successful commercial websites. The following is a non-exhaustive list of factors that SEO should consider:

• audit of your website to determine any obstacles to search engine indexing
• link building - acquiring links to your website from other websites
• keyword and competition research based on your company’s niche
• link analysis of your competition
• visibility in social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter
• content optimization to include keywords
• keyword placement in website coding
• PPC - pay per click campaign such as Google Adwords to determine keyword relevance
• viral content or campaign
• website design   
• traffic measurement

Where do I start: SEO Audit
Without any doubt, the best place to start is to evaluate the opportunities for your business online. Is there demand for your product and service? What is the level of competition online in my niche? Can I get a return on my investment (ROI) within a reasonable time frame? A good SEO Audit will answer these questions and provide you with a business case for investing (or not) in an online marketing strategy. An SEO Audit will also give you a strategies and tactics to reach your marketing objectives.

What does SEO cost?
How much you pay for SEO is really up to you based on your marketing strategy and the level of competition in your niche. High level SEO consultations are usually free and can be custom tailored depending on your website’s needs. Some factors to consider are:

• current advertising budget and it’s success
• your marketing strategy
• level of competition online in your market and geographic market
• your website complexity and number of pages
• whether you want a one-time audit of your site and improvement or if you would also like ongoing maintenance

What we often tell our clients is that SEO should be considered as part of your marketing strategy and also that SEO can and often should be performed ‘in-house’ to reduce costs over time.

Buyer Beware
We’ve all received the emails that promise search engine ranking nirvana faster. The general rule applies: if it’s too good to be true, then it’s too good to be true. Companies promising to make your website number one in Google in a few short months can endanger your business. We’ve worked on more than a few projects that required us to help websites recover from cheap SEO. Employing ‘fast and easy’ tactics that may result in your website disappearing from search engine pages is not worth saving a few dollars on cheap, ineffective, and possibly risky SEO. SEO vendors should focus on optimization and promotion tactics that have lasting value, sustaining targeted traffic over time, and not on outsmarting search engine engineers.

This is the first in a series of blog posts that will focus on SEO with particular focus on the US Hispanic community. Feel free to send us your questions so that we can address them in our next posts.