Search engine optimization is not the only solution, SEO, like a tool, serves a very specific purpose and function, which is to increase exposure for your website. However, just because you gain exposure and drive traffic to a page or a website, does not ensure success alone.
Factors such as usability (navigation, image placement, font selection, color choice), having a clear call to action, having impeccable content and using the right triggers to engage your target audience are all part of achieving a successful online marketing campaign.
The tendency to rely too heavily on one marketing medium is a crutch that must be balanced and evaluated for its overall performance, it either works or your attachment to it prevents you from letting it go and finding other alternatives.
SEO is inevitably chained to the calculation of relevance and the whims of engineers who program the search engines to return the most relevant results. The parameters are based on the search query and the ability for the search engine to find relevant information on a topic.
As a result, search engines constantly scour the web looking for websites and solutions to quell such inquiries and provide the ideal solution to each proposed impulse. The obvious attraction to search engine traffic is, if you understand what the search engines are looking for, and your content provides that, then you are a likely candidate for high placement and visibility in their index.
The key is, understanding “how to create and position your content” and how this component is entirely up to you. This is where most fail to see how they can take control over search engine positioning. The days of the 5 page website ranking as the most relevant result are coming to a close, if you want the spotlight, you have to earn it with useful information or immense link popularity from a highly trafficked and trusted site to vouch for your pages.
Topical relevance, trust of the domain (how long has it been around, who links to you, who you link to), site architecture, proper titles and tags, proper use of keywords and context and link popularity all comprise relevant factors that have impact.
Although you may not have control of some of these factors, when you start and how you refine your website is still under your control. No amount of SEO is going to make someone purchase a product they don’t need, just like no amount of SEO or keyword positioning is going to appeal to a person who is not interested in the topic.
These conditions shape the outcome and the extent of the reach search engines have in their ability to
act as a medium or bridge between those searching and those wanting to be found. Small business has more to gain or lose than say, someone who just was a website for their own personal reasons. However, there are only ten spots at the top of any given keyword and reaching the summit is a full time responsibility (for an SEO Firm or in-house SEO) it makes no difference (each page in your site must be treated as its own site) to reach its full potential.
In closing, diversify your methods, use press releases, hire an SEO copywriter, have your website evaluated for the appropriate site architecture, make sure you don’t have spider traps that prevent your content from being indexed and above all, make sure your offer is easy to grasp.
Advertising is only one form of marketing, which is to attract consumers to evaluate your offer. Once they are there, it is all about conversion. So, see SEO for what it is, a tool, then when you pick a keyword you want to rank for, make sure you have plenty of pages to support it and make sure that each page adds value. If this is your mode of operation, search engines above all else will notice and deliver relevant traffic to your content.
Hi,
I agree with you for SEO is not a only one solution.
I like your points and each seo people must think about it.
I agree never put all of your eggs in one basket. I think hiring an expert is a good idea. SEO takes a painful long time to learn, and never stops evolving. Hence, thinking out of the box.
Content is everything. You repeat that over and over, and it works for me.
What article did you discuss the logarithms and Google shuffle up in? That was good one. Thanks
Thank you both for commenting, it is easy to look past conversion sometimes. You get so caught up in how much traffic vs. how many are ordering, signing up or picking up the phone.
You can never lose sight of the goal, yet you must always be truthful about each campaign, did it work? if so, what is the takeaway, what was remarkable, which aspect could use improvement, etc.
It doesn’t matter if you only have 100 visitors a day, if 5-10 place and order, then you know you have a scalable result worth pursuing, otherwise, you need to go back to the drawing board and refine your offer, tweak the page and find the sweet spot of call to action and appeal.
Danny, the post you inquired about is here called search engine redundancy, amnesia and the process of rediscovery a.k.a The Google Dance .
Well put. The amount of visitors is relative to your niche roi and income requirements.