The Process of SEO and SEM Broken Down into Steps

18th March, 2012
The Process of SEO and SEM Broken Down into Steps

The process involved in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing can be intimidating regardless of how familiar you are with it.  Every website is trying to attract new audience members while retaining its current ones, after all, so the process must be tailored to suit each and every website to which it’s applied.

In general, there are ten specific things you can do to launch and carry out a successful SEO and SEM campaign.  Depending on the business you are in, you may need to concentrate your efforts on certain steps more than others that make up the overall process, however.

When the process of SEO and SEM is broken down into the following steps, it will no longer intimidate you!  Instead, conducting a campaign will be something you look forward to…especially if you use the services offered by the SEO and SEM experts at Visual Artistics!

Research Two Types of Keywords

Researching the keywords your company’s customers and prospects use to find your business or similar ones is the cornerstone of the overall SEO and SEM process.  You will need to find short keyword phrases that are between 1-3 words in length, and long-tail keywords that consist of five or more words to incorporate into your campaign.

Identify Your Company’s Competitors

Even though you already know the names of the businesses that rival yours, you must identify which of their websites are ranked highest by different search engines such as Google and Yahoo.  You must also determine how your competitors spend their Adwords dollars and where they conduct their pay per click promotions.

Evaluate Your Company’s Rivals

Evaluating what your company’s competitors are doing and comparing the results to your own business’ performance and efforts are essential tasks.  The results of your comparative evaluation will help you figure out where you need to concentrate your SEO and SEM endeavors.

Establish a Timeline

It is important to establish a timeline that includes deadlines by which tasks must be completed.  Your timeline should also include goals so you can measure the results of your SEO and SEM campaign against your expected returns.

Adhere to Optimization Guidelines

In order for your optimization process to be worth the effort it takes to see it through, you must take advantage of the various things search engines use to classify your company’s website, including Meta-tags, title tags, Alt tags for images, HTTP and XML site maps, content optimization, site structure analysis, linking and Robot.txt files.

Optimize with Your Company’s Locale in Mind

When people are engaged in a search for a business that offers a particular type of good or service, they are typically looking for a business that is local.  So, you must focus at least part of your SEO and SEM campaigns locally on things like local directories and map search engines.

Build Links Continuously

Doing some or all of the following tasks will help your website improve its rankings by linking to other sites:  submitting to directories, issuing digital press releases, commenting on blogs, preparing article submissions, and bookmarking.

Use Pay Per Click Advertising

Incorporating pay per click advertising into your SEO and SEM campaign will help attract additional visitors to your company’s website.

Measure and Report Your Results

You should track and record the results of your SEO and SEM campaign by preparing reports on a regular basis; you should prepare a report at least once every three months to monitor the effectiveness of your efforts.  Your reports should include the following pieces of information at a minimum:  changes made to your website, trends in the traffic that visits your website, measures for how your keywords are improving your site’s ranking, and recommendations to improve your website’s performance.

Repeat Steps as Necessary

You will need to repeat the preceding three steps many times over during the SEO and SEM process.  You may also have to revisit some of the previous ones to improve your website’s ranking.

Contact Visual Artistics

The marketing professionals at Visual Artistics can help you put together and execute a comprehensive Search Engine Optimization and Marketing campaign to ensure you don’t miss a single step!  Contact them today!

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